Unsettling the University

“A Third University is Possible” is the title of the book and the promise provided by La Paperson in their important contribution to settler colonial studies, in which they conclude “it exists within the First” (University of Minnesota Press, 2017). While we study, labor, and work within the first university, La Paperson proposes that we work towards a third university: a university that, among other endeavors, seeks to disentangle and unsettle the legacies of dispossession that built the first university. In recent years, these legacies have been researched and discussed, in some cases leading to efforts towards reparation and memorialization. This course argues that the long road to reparation starts by understanding the complex narratives that have shaped the institution. Standing between research and reparation, this project-based seminar will be a space for us to learn these spatial histories and work together to visualize them in order to communicate them to a broader public.

Unsettling the University examines the historical links between Harvard University and its campus to systems of land dispossession from its occupation of Indigenous lands to its connection to plantation economies, as well as more recent histories of gentrification and displacement. We will build on prior courses at Harvard including The Archeology of Harvard Yard (ANTHRO 1130) and its examination of the Harvard Indian College site, Harvard and Native Lands (HIST 15H, HIST-LIT 90AD, ENG 90LN) on the settler colonial history in which the institution is imbricated, and the recent report on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery (HIST 84G). We will also look at twentieth century histories of gentrification and dispossession, and other contemporary dispossessions beyond the campus. Finally, we will learn about ongoing efforts to resist, rewild, repair, and memorialize, including the ongoing course and project Rewilding Harvard (HIST 1973), as well as case studies at other institutions reconciling with their histories.

The seminar will be divided in two parts. In the first half we will read and learn the long spatial histories of the institution and the broader context these histories are part of: the settler colonial role of universities, their complicity with plantation economies, and their role in land dispossession. As we learn these histories, we will compile a shared timeline and map of relevant sites. In the second half, we will work together on a group project to visualize these histories in the form of an annotated campus guide that might take many forms including a campus map, a podcast recording, virtual environment annotations, and/or a series of public events. More broadly, the course engages with contemporary forms of practice that bring together the tools of historical inquiry with those of spatial knowledge towards public outreach.

While the course concludes with a collective project, evaluation will be based on your individual commitment to the course through your attendance, input into collaborative documents, and participation in the group project. We will have a midterm check-in in which we will provide each other with mutual feedback on how the course is going. Many skills are needed for this project, and we will work collaboratively to maximize each other’s abilities. Students with skills in archival research, history writing, data compilation, GIS mapping, and/or data visualization are all welcome. Overall, the most important requirement is an investment in spatial politics and justice.