HUM 132 / ENV DES 132
Summer Session C: June 21 – Aug. 13, 2021
4 units, Humanities Studio Course
Instructor: Chris Marino
Watch info session recording here.
How do we know what we call “history”? Archives, or collections of written documents, are the core of historical research, and they are contested sites, and not at all to be considered neutral boxes of dusty papers. Easter Hill Village in Richmond, California, was developed as a utopian public housing project in the 1950’s and was demolished and rebuilt in the mid-2000s. Using this site as a case study, this course will examine how records including architectural plans and contracts help us understand or misunderstand the complex social, economic, and design history of this place. You will develop archival literacy and a critical understanding of how primary resources/archives speak to concepts of evidence, collective memory and identity, accountability, access, and power. You will learn how power and wealth play a key role in the existence and interpretation of archives, and how archivists negotiate questions of equity, race, and gaps in records. You will use archives to create public-facing stories to share with communities at the site. You will consider the ways the designers of Easter Hill Village imagined the future, and how we might imagine it now.