Dr. Lauren E. Obermark, University of Missouri-St. Louis; obermarkl@umsl.

edu
Expanding the Canon of Memory: A Case Study of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum (RSA 2014)
1

Presentation in a Nutshell

Goal: Explicating an emerging pedagogy of memory.



Characteristics of pedagogy of memory:

1) Value-driven and often reliant on epideictic rhetoric.
2) Thoughtfully utilizing material rhetoric and multimodal approaches to
remembrance and education.



Rhetorical Education: Lessons about history are aligned with value-heavy lessons
about how to participate and engage in the present day.



Benefits:
Memory used to build toward civic engagement; new possibilities for rhetorical
education in the 21
st
century.

Challenges:
Didactic nature of value-driven education can suppress choices and voices and
oversimplify difficult topics like trauma.

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Dr. Lauren E. Obermark, University of Missouri-St. Louis; obermarkl@umsl.edu
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Dr. Lauren E. Obermark, University of Missouri-St. Louis; obermarkl@umsl.edu
Expanding the Canon of Memory: A Case Study of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum (RSA 2014)
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