Guantanamo Public Memory Project National Dialogue and Traveling Exhibit: 

This project is part of a national effort of faculty, students, historians, and activists to build public awareness of the history of the US naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and foster dialogue on the future of the place and the policies and issues related to it. The project asks: what should we remember about Guantanamo – and  why should we remember it now? In 2012-2013, Brown University students contributed research and writing to a traveling exhibit about Guantanamo. Coordinated from Columbia University and developed in collaboration with teams of students from a dozen universities across the U.S., the exhibit opened at NYU in December, 2012. In 2014, the exhibit will come to Providence along with public programs to connect the concerns of people at Brown, and in Rhode Island, to the historical, political, legal, and ethical issues of Guantanamo.

Project goals:

• To use Guantanamo as a basis for public education and engagement about a significant historical site and a topic of political controversy
• To provide Brown students the opportunity to contribute to a collaborative exhibit project on a subject of international importance and with widespread visibility
• To engage members of Brown’s community in dialogue with individuals in Providence, in Rhode Island, and throughout the country, about critical historical and contemporary issues including detention, terrorism, national security, civil liberties, human rights, and sites of conscience
• To participate in an experimental collaboration involving teams of students and faculty from multiple universities and diverse community perspectives

The larger project is coordinated by the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University with participants from Arizona State University, Indiana University-Purdue University, New School, New York University, Rutgers University, Tulane University, University of California-Riverside, University of Minnesota, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and University of West Florida, in addition to Brown. The URI Feinstein Providence Campus Gallery will host the exhibit. For more information, see the Guantanamo Public Memory Project blog. 

Public humanities students at the opening of the Guantamo Public Memory Project at New York University in December, 2012.