Troubling the Commemoration of Psychology’s Past
What is the relationship between commemoration and critical history? Historians of psychology often find themselves in role of keeping the memory of the past alive in the discipline. Such an imperative often exists in tension with a scholarly, critical perspectives. We live in a moment of renewed concern about the ways in which universities and other institutions mark and celebrate their past. Many honored figures not only held abhorrent views on gender, race, sexuality, and ability but acted to promote and enshrine them. From the recent denamings of the Galton Lecture Theatre at University College, London and Thorndike Hall at Columbia University’s Teachers College to the European Association of Social Psychology’s decision to rename its Tajfel Award, these issues touch directly on the history of psychology. Are these merely symbolic gestures which keep existing structures in place? How do certain memories of the disciplines past get materialized into the space we inhabit? What would a critical practice of commemoration look like? In this session, we will explore these issues and think about how to incorporate the current controversies over commemoration on one’s own campus into the pedagogy of the history of psychology class.
Reading:
Alderman, D. H., & Reuben, R.-R. (2020). The classroom as “toponymic workspace”: Towards a critical pedagogy of campus place renaming. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 44(1), 124–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2019.1695108
How to Research Your Own Institute (U.S. edition)