AML 4213 – Spring 2027 – Kilgore

How does Florida represent its early history and culture through museums, parks, monuments, and other public spaces? What kind of stories does the City of Tallahassee tell about itself? How does the literary tradition of Florida open up or reveal perspectives on Florida's past that cultures of commemoration and public education fail to consider? This course will tackle questions such as these by surveying the early literature of Florida and then putting our reading into conversation with public memory places in and around Tallahassee. That means you will be making a few site visits in town and analyzing the material rhetorics of history and place. The goal is to understand major issues foundational to Florida's identity. We will look at Florida literature itself as a form of cultural memory that shapes both the history and imagination of the state; conversely, we will approach sites of public memory as narrative forms which tell stories about Florida at the intersection of fact and fancy, history and politics.