Faculty presentation to explore social media as an archival tool

The University of Southern Indiana College of Liberal Arts will host "Innovative Approaches to Research: A Case Study for Social Media as Archives," a presentation by Dr. Cacee Hoyer, assistant professor of History, at 3 p.m. Friday, November 8, in Kleymeyer Hall in the Liberal Arts Center.

The 'Grey Street Casbah and Surroundings' is a private Facebook group that focuses on the shared spaces of the commercial district of Durban, South Africa by creating an informal archival repository that connects urban history, memory studies, and the digital humanities. This presentation urges an examination of such social media sites as a new way to examine urban history.

Often ripe with nostalgia and intimate portrayals of personal and family histories, this platform provides a new space to reify contemporary understandings of well-known historical spaces within the Durban CBD. The informal nature of this space allows the average layperson the ability to participate in historical inquiry and exhibits the diverse ways well-known, and obscure, spaces in Durban are remembered and memorialized. Hoyer argues the wealth of knowledge generated on informal online platforms, such as this Facebook group, should influence and inform historical interpretations of our urban pasts.

Hoyer's presentation is part of the fall 2019 Liberal Arts Faculty Colloquium. Each fall and spring semester, USI faculty members from the College of Liberal Arts present individual, free public lectures featuring their current research. To see the current lineup of speakers for this semester, visit USI.edu/liberal-arts/special-programs/liberal-arts-faculty-colloquia.

For more information contact Dr. Urska Dobersek, assistant professor of psychology, at 812-464-1952 or udobersek@usi.edu.