About Us
Madison Mourns seeks to memorialize loved-ones lost to COVID-19 through the collection of letters, photos, or other digital materials. We hope to affirm community expressions of mourning and loss. While the website is live, the collection will appear as a “feed,” where community members can return to acknowledge our shared loss. At the culmination of the project, the website will be archived with the UW-Madison Archives Documenting COVID-19 Project.
Madison, WI occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial. In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory. Decades of ethnic cleansing followed when both the federal and state government repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to forcibly remove the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin.
We acknowledge the circumstances that led to the forced removal of the Ho-Chunk people, and honor their legacy of resistance and resilience. This history of colonization informs our work and vision for a collaborative future. We recognize and respect the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the other 11 Native Nations within the boundaries of the state of Wisconsin.
The Madison Mourns Collective
In the Spring of 2023, students in English 100, Introduction to College Composition, worked with their graduate student instructor, Taylor Dickson, to design this website and compile resources. We introduced the project at the 20th annual Madison Print and Resist Zinefest.
Check out the zine, “Community Renewal: Making Space for Loss (vol. 1)”
Then in Fall 2023, students in English 201, Intermediate Composition, began work to promote the project in the broader Madison community with their graduate instructor Alexandra Chakov. In part, this work included establishing social media accounts for Madison Mourns.
We invite you to follow Madison Mourns on Instagram and Facebook!
Interested in helping us spread the word? Post a flier in your community!
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Photograph by Sujash Purna
Consultants
This work would not be possible without the help of our consultants. Their expertise has guided and influenced the project all along the way. We are so grateful for their time and care.
Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, PhD, Professor of Composition and Rhetoric
Katie Nash, University Archivist
Troy Reeves, Oral Historian
Sydney Goggins, PhD student and Writing Tutor
Sujash Purna, PhD student and Photographer