'Heritage': Dynamics of Collections

After completing this course students are able to:

1. engage with debates about the meanings and uses of the term ‘heritage’,
2. synthesize interdisciplinary approaches to heritage and make active use of scholarly skills,
3. explain the formation and evolution of the historic monument, collections, and heritage, informed by study in the fields of Art History, Anthropology and Science,
4. analyze some of the dynamics of 21st heritage: globalization, expansion, collection management,
5. apply their knowledge to real-life situations regarding monuments, collections, and different forms of heritage,
6. integrate interdisciplinary scholarship on heritage and collections into the core of their liberal arts and sciences education,
7. realize their own research paper departing from a focus on one or more of the dynamics of heritage,
8. write their research findings in the form of a visually informed research paper.

Relationship between assessment and learning goals:

Short Paper 1 (30%) (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8)
Short Paper 2 (25%) (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8)
Presentation of the Short Paper 2 (10%) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Short Paper 3  (25%) (1, 2, 3, 5, 7,  8)
Presentation of the Short Paper 3 (10%) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

 

Cross-listed with SSC. Track finisher for Anthropology if UCSSCANT23 and UCHUMHAR22 have been completed as well.

This course takes a broad, interdisciplinary approach to the historical development of heritage while going into depth through a range of case studies both European and non-European. It examines the rise of the historic monument and the expansion of knowledge as marking a new era of citizenship, for both subjects and objects. Twentieth-century international organisations, and new categories of heritage generated new dynamics and frictions.

Format
The course is divided into three content sections: the first two before mid-term, and the third after mid-term, each with its own written assignment. The final weeks of the semester will be devoted to writing a research essay on a topic of the student’s own choice. There will be a number of plenary sessions to ensure course cohesion throughout. There will be small assignments to support the research process and individual meetings to support the writing process of the term paper throughout the semester.