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Movement I · Week 3
Who Are We and What Do We Think?
The Past
Is Not Past
WEEK 3 · CRDM 790
"The past carries with it a secret index by which it is referred to its resurrection."— Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History, Thesis II
CRDM 790 · Week 3Session Map
Today's 3.5 Hours
History, Aura, and the Objects We Carry
0:00–0:30
Open with Thesis IX Slow Read
Read the Klee / angel passage aloud (p. 257–258). Sit with it. Do not explain — ask students to say what they see. The silence before interpretation is pedagogically important.
0:30–1:15
'The Storyteller' + 'Work of Art' Discussion
What has digital reproduction done to aura? How does this land specifically for CRDM research? Let students bring their fields into contact with Benjamin's claims.
1:15–1:45
'Theses' — Collaborative Close Reading Discussion
Work through several theses together. Students find these cryptic — make the confusion productive. Difficulty is not failure.
1:45–2:00
Break + Setup for Gallery Rest
Students place their objects on tables during this time.
2:00–3:00
Wreckage & Promise Gallery Activity
Silent gallery walk → small groups → full group synthesis → individual writing seed.
3:00–3:30
Synthesis + Week 4 Preview
What does this cohort's collection of objects reveal about where their research is pointing? Transition: next week we ask who is allowed to live at all.
CRDM 790 · Week 3Reading Guide
This Week's Text
Benjamin, Illuminations
Assigned (Perusall) · Schocken Books 2007 reprint
  • 'The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov' — pp. 83–109 (~27 pp.)
  • 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' — pp. 217–251 (~35 pp.)
  • 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' — pp. 253–264 (~12 pp.) — dense despite being short
Suggested (Not Required)
  • Hannah Arendt, Introduction to Illuminations — pp. 1–55 — essential context
  • Susan Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing — most thorough account of Benjamin's method
Discussion Anchor — Open with This

Thesis IX, pp. 257–258 — the Klee / angel of history passage. Read aloud. Do not explain first. Ask: "What do you see?"

Also: Opening pages on aura, pp. 220–223. Both repay slow reading aloud.

Pre-Class Writing Prompt

Annotate on Perusall: Mark one moment in the 'Theses' that you find cryptic. Write a genuine question — not rhetorical.

And bring one object — a photo, text, image, or sound clip representing something in your research area that feels unresolved or haunted.

Aura

The unique presence of a work in the place it is located — its embeddedness in tradition, its "here and now." Mechanical reproduction destroys this.

Angel of History

Turned toward the past, seeing catastrophe upon catastrophe — blown backward into the future by the storm we call progress. (Thesis IX)

Dialectical Image

The moment when past and present flash together in a constellation of recognition — historical knowledge as shock, not continuity.

CRDM 790 · Week 3Discussion Questions
Seminar · 0:30–1:45
Questions Worth
Sitting With
1
Benjamin writes that history 'flashes up' in moments of danger — the past is not settled but alive and urgent. What does this claim do to your research questions?What past is not past in your area of study? What keeps returning, unfinished?
2
What does Benjamin mean by the 'angel of history'? What is the storm that drives it? How does that image land for you today?Not metaphorically — materially. What is the wreckage piling up in your research area right now?
3
'The Work of Art' argues that mechanical reproduction destroys 'aura.' What has digital reproduction done to the texts and images you study?Is digital reproduction more or less like mechanical reproduction? Does the concept of aura even hold here — or does it need to be revised?
4
Who is 'the storyteller' in Benjamin's sense? Is that a figure you recognize in your own field — or one that has been lost?What happens to knowledge and experience when storytelling is replaced by information?
Click any card or this button · or press Enter
CRDM 790 · Week 3Hands-On Activity
Activity · 2:00–3:00
Wreckage & Promise Gallery
60 minutes total
1
Place your objects on the table  During break / 1:45–2:00
Physical object, photo, printed text, or a description card if the object is digital or auditory. Each person places theirs somewhere on the shared table.
Accessibility: if any object is inaccessible in its physical form, a photo or description card is fully acceptable.
2
Silent gallery walk — 5 minutes  → use next slide for timer
Everyone moves through the objects in silence. Look at each one. Don't ask questions yet. Notice what draws you, what unsettles you, what you recognize.
3
Small group discussion — 20 minutes
In groups of 3–4: What wreckage does your object hold? What promise? How does Benjamin's Thesis IX — the angel facing the wreckage of the past — apply to what you brought?
4
Full group — 20 minutes
What patterns emerge across the cohort's objects? What does the collection reveal about where this group's research is pointing? What piece of history is this room working in?
5
Individual writing seed — 5 minutes
Write one sentence beginning: "The piece of history I am working in the wreckage of is ___."
Keep this. It feeds your Scholarly Identity Statement (due Week 5). Instructor collects the sentence — students may post to Moodle instead if preferred.
CRDM 790 · Week 3Gallery Walk
Activity · Step 2 of 5
Silent Gallery Walk — Look, Don't Talk
5:00
Ready to start
What to look for

Move through every object. Read the descriptions. Notice what pulls your attention — not what you understand, but what you feel drawn to or unsettled by.

Hold these questions

What wreckage does this object hold? What promise? Where is the "storm we call progress" in what you're looking at?

After the timer

Return to your seat. You'll have a moment before the small group conversation begins. What stays with you?

Accessibility note

If moving through the gallery is difficult, a photograph of the full table will be available on a device. No one should have to ask — it's there by default.

CRDM 790 · Week 3Synthesis
Full Group · 3:00–3:30
What Does This Cohort's Collection Reveal?
The synthesis question

"What does this cohort's collection of objects reveal about where our research is pointing — about the piece of history we are collectively working in the wreckage of?"

Facilitation note

Ask one or two students to read their "wreckage" sentences aloud at the end of the gallery discussion. The room often goes very quiet. That quiet is doing pedagogical work — don't fill it too fast.

"There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism." — Benjamin, 'Theses on the Philosophy of History,' Thesis VII
Loop ahead to Week 4

The objects students brought — and the histories embedded in them — are preparation for Mbembe next week. Who gets to live, and who doesn't, is not separate from the materials, texts, and images that sit in their research fields. Name this transition explicitly.

Writing seed to collect

"The piece of history I am working in the wreckage of is ___." — Pairs with the Week 1 constellation card. By Week 5, students should have three such seeds for the Scholarly Identity Statement.

CRDM 790 · Week 3Looking Ahead
Before You Leave
Week 4 Preparation
Reading for Week 4 (Perusall)
  • Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics (Duke UP 2019, trans. Corcoran)
  • Introduction — pp. 1–14
  • Chapter 3 'Necropolitics' — pp. 66–92 — this is the conceptual core
Perusall annotation prompt

Identify one concept from Mbembe that you think could be directly applied to your research area. Write a 3–4 sentence annotation explaining how. Be specific — not "this relates to power" but what kind of power, operating through what mechanism, in what you study.

Bring to Class — Week 4

One concrete example.

From media, policy, your archive, or your community — something that you think illustrates necropolitical logic. Be ready to put it on the table. The room may hold examples that are graphic or personally resonant; be prepared for that.

Milestone 1 — Still Coming · Week 5 · 20%
Scholarly Identity Statement
By now you have: a constellation card (Week 1), an assumption to interrogate (Week 2), and a piece of history you're working in the wreckage of (Week 3). These are the raw materials. Start writing from them.
CRDM 790 · Movement I · Week 3

Week 3: The Past Is Not Past

History, aura, and the objects we carry.

Reading: Benjamin, Illuminations (Perusall) Activity: Wreckage & Promise Gallery
"The past carries with it a secret index by which it is referred to its resurrection."— Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History, Thesis II

Session Map

History, Aura, and the Objects We Carry
0:00–0:30
Open with Thesis IX — Slow Read
Read the Klee / angel passage aloud (p. 257–258). Sit with it. Do not explain — ask students to say what they see.
0:30–1:15
'The Storyteller' + 'Work of Art' Discussion
What has digital reproduction done to aura? Let students bring their fields into contact with Benjamin's claims.
1:15–1:45
'Theses' — Collaborative Close Reading
Work through several theses together. Difficulty is not failure — make the confusion productive.
1:45–2:00
Break + Setup for Gallery
Students place their objects on tables during break.
2:00–3:00
Wreckage & Promise Gallery
Silent gallery walk → small groups → full group synthesis → individual writing seed.
3:00–3:30
Synthesis + Week 4 Preview
What does this cohort's collection reveal? Transition: next week we ask who is allowed to live at all.

Reading Guide

Benjamin, Illuminations · Schocken Books 2007 reprint
Assigned (Perusall)
  • 'The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov' — pp. 83–109 (~27 pp.)
  • 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' — pp. 217–251 (~35 pp.)
  • 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' — pp. 253–264 (~12 pp.) — dense despite being short
Discussion Anchor — Open with This

Thesis IX, pp. 257–258 — the Klee / angel of history passage. Read aloud. Do not explain first. Ask: "What do you see?" Also: Opening pages on aura, pp. 220–223.

Pre-Class Writing Prompt

Annotate on Perusall: Mark one moment in the 'Theses' that you find cryptic. Write a genuine question — not rhetorical. And bring one object representing something in your research area that feels unresolved or haunted.

Suggested (Not Required)
  • Hannah Arendt, Introduction to Illuminations — pp. 1–55 — essential context
  • Susan Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing — thorough account of Benjamin's method
Aura

The unique presence of a work in the place it is located — its embeddedness in tradition. Mechanical reproduction destroys this.

Angel of History

Turned toward the past, seeing catastrophe upon catastrophe — blown backward into the future by the storm we call progress. (Thesis IX)

Dialectical Image

The moment when past and present flash together in a constellation of recognition — historical knowledge as shock, not continuity.

Guiding Questions

Seminar · 0:30–1:45
1
Benjamin writes that history 'flashes up' in moments of danger — the past is not settled but alive and urgent. What does this claim do to your research questions?
What past is not past in your area of study? What keeps returning, unfinished?
2
What does Benjamin mean by the 'angel of history'? What is the storm that drives it? How does that image land for you today?
Not metaphorically — materially. What is the wreckage piling up in your research area right now?
3
'The Work of Art' argues that mechanical reproduction destroys 'aura.' What has digital reproduction done to the texts and images you study?
Is digital reproduction more or less like mechanical reproduction? Does the concept of aura even hold here — or does it need to be revised?
4
Who is 'the storyteller' in Benjamin's sense? Is that a figure you recognize in your own field — or one that has been lost?
What happens to knowledge and experience when storytelling is replaced by information?

Activity: Wreckage & Promise Gallery

2:00–3:00 · 60 minutes total
1
Place your objects on the table (During break, 1:45–2:00)
Physical object, photo, printed text, or a description card if the object is digital or auditory.
Accessibility: photo or description card is fully acceptable if physical form is inaccessible.
2
Silent gallery walk (5 min)
Everyone moves through the objects in silence. Look at each one. Notice what draws you, what unsettles you, what you recognize.
→ A 5-minute countdown timer is available in Slide Mode (Slide 6).
3
Small group discussion (20 min)
In groups of 3–4: What wreckage does your object hold? What promise? How does Benjamin's Thesis IX — the angel facing the wreckage of the past — apply to what you brought?
4
Full group (20 min)
What patterns emerge across the cohort's objects? What does the collection reveal about where this group's research is pointing?
5
Individual writing seed (5 min)
Write one sentence beginning: "The piece of history I am working in the wreckage of is ___."
Keep this. It feeds your Scholarly Identity Statement (due Week 5).

Synthesis Discussion

Full Group · 3:00–3:30
"What does this cohort's collection of objects reveal about where our research is pointing — about the piece of history we are collectively working in the wreckage of?"
"There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism."— Benjamin, 'Theses on the Philosophy of History,' Thesis VII
Writing Seed to Collect
"The piece of history I am working in the wreckage of is ___." — Pairs with the Week 1 constellation card. By Week 5, students should have three such seeds for the Scholarly Identity Statement.

Looking Ahead

Reading for Week 4 (Perusall)
  • Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics (Duke UP 2019, trans. Corcoran)
  • Introduction — pp. 1–14
  • Chapter 3 'Necropolitics' — pp. 66–92 — conceptual core
Perusall annotation prompt
  • Identify one concept from Mbembe you think could be directly applied to your research area. Write a 3–4 sentence annotation explaining how — be specific about mechanism, not just "this relates to power."
Bring to Class — Week 4
One concrete example.

From media, policy, your archive, or your community — something that illustrates necropolitical logic. The room may hold examples that are graphic or personally resonant; be prepared for that.

◆ Milestone 1 — Still Coming · Week 5 · 20%
Scholarly Identity Statement

By now you have: a constellation card (W1), an assumption to interrogate (W2), and a piece of history you're working in the wreckage of (W3). These are the raw materials. Start writing from them.