About

Autumn/Fall semester at the University of York

A group of us from Hamline University undergraduate programs is at York for a semester abroad. Since our arrival here on August 27th, we have been settling in and excitedly exploring the historic city of York and its surroundings. We will have study excursions to London for a weekend in September, and to Malham and Haworth to the Brontë parsonage in the Yorkshire Dales during a weekend in October. There is much to see, learn, and experience in the few months we will spend here. Our blog posts here will capture a few of our interests we think readers will like to experience with us.

Students in our group will take an intensive study course titled “ ‘What is heritage to me?’: Cultural Memory, Media, and Tourism” during September and then study modules at the University of York during their Autumn term. Some of us are also working on interesting internship opportunities in the York Archaeological Trust and the online arts magazine Aesthetica.

So what are we learning in the first few weeks here? Our intensive course is following up on some ideas. For instance, African American poet, Countee Cullen, wrote in the early twentieth century his much anthologized poem, “Heritage.” There he asked the question: “What is Africa to me?” in the face of mediated knowledge of Africa circulated for consumption in the United States of America among all youth, but especially black youth. Cullen draws critical attention to the constructedness of cultural identity and memories whether it is done to denigrate or to validate a people.

His critical gaze at mediated images of “place” suggests a framework from which this course will ask critical questions in another context (our context in York) such as: 1. What is the relationship between mediated images/texts/cultural artifacts, cultural commodification, national identity, and the conservation of national assets or promotion of heritage industry in a globalized world? 2. What stories does the culture/heritage industry promote? What stories are suppressed? 3. What can we understand about ourselves and others as we unpack the various meanings attached to places and identities? 5. What is “heritage” to us, since we have taken the step to visit/study and experience life away from our own familiar landscapes?

    Hope our readers here will enjoy hearing about our thoughts as we study together, travel together and by ourselves, and unpack our experiences of York as students and travelers and learn about ourselves as much as we do others around us.