What Makes a Monster? Innovative Teaching and Outreach to Start a Campus Conversation

Background: Over the course of a year, this library-based project team asked members of our university community, What Makes a Monster? Through connections with organizations across campus and classroom engagement with students, the team created a campus-wide conversation about monster theory and how American society creates monsters- the other- during times of stress.

Description: Led by the health science archivist, with four other librarians, the project incorporated curriculum innovation, a speaker series, film screening, and two monster-themed art contests. Undergraduates were deeply engaged in a monster-focused course, using a novel model at our institution of 4 honors students teaching fellow undergraduates (under the guidance of the archivist) and all students curating an exhibit for the local art museum.

Falling during the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the project tapped into conversations regarding medical ethics and monstrosity, with one speaker focusing on the Frankenstein movies and screening The Bride of Frankenstein. Another speaker discussed how we make sense of the sometimes beautiful art of “monstrous men.” To conclude the project, the library hosted two art contests, with participants considering the perspectives on monsters discussed throughout the year and responding through drawings, paintings, or comics.

Conclusion: The project was highly successful in furthering the conversation on monsters, and received significant media interest as well as engagement in the various activities, as measured by participation and attendance in events, as well as its impact on larger university programs. It also provided a model- that continues to be promoted by the Museum of Art and the Honors Program- and thus has generated institutional change.