Critical Heritage Studies

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 1022281CNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (C) Bachelor - specialised level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

English

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

History, Archaeology, Arts, Philosophy and Ethics

Educational team

Marc Jacobs (course titular)
Pieter Martens

Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
100 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

Since the 1990s the heritage paradigm has boomed all over the world. The semantic field of the concept of “heritage” (erfgoed, patrimoine, Kulturerbe, ...) has become much broader than previously. This is marked by an avalanche of adjectives like immovable, movable, intangible, digital, etc. More and more stakeholders and policymakers are using the concept. Heritage has developed into a separate policy field. This is also the case in the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders, Wallonia, the German speaking Community, Brussels, ...). It has positive effects on the job market and yields opportunities for heritage work. It poses special challenges for the knowledge, methods, instruments, vistas and competences that are required in this emerging field. In this course, we examine how broad and diverse the field on which the concept of heritage is projected has become in the 2010s and how it will evolve in the 2020s. We identify both diverging and converging forces that are active in this process.

We do this in three interlocking modules: one focussing on immovable (architectural) heritage in a long-term perspective, one focussing on heritage conventions of UNESCO in the past half-century, and one exploring the emergence and potential of a scholarly platform in the current and the next decade.

A first module looks at architectural heritage ('monuments and sites') and discusses the development of the conservation movement, from its antecedents in the pre-modern age, via the emergence of the first modern ideologies of conservation in the 19th century, to the international charters and conventions elaborated in the postwar era (e.g. 1964 charter of Venice, 1994 Nara document on authenticity, 2000 Riga charter on historical reconstruction), which still dominate policies in many contexts today. We review different theories, methods, possibilities and challenges of the preservation of 'monuments'. Students explore diverse options and viewpoints by critically analyzing a specific (recent) example through a casestudy.

In a second module we investigate the evolution and expansion of the notion of heritage since 1945, and in particular since the pathbreaking phases in the 1970s and the 2000s, in and via UNESCO, and hence in a global perspective. We systematically explore all the relevant UNESCO conventions and recommendations about heritage since the Second World War. Not only the process of making and developing these instruments will be discussed, but also the implementation, appropriation and application in (between) States. But also the mutual relations between these conventions. We will in particular focus strongly on the Basic Texts of the 2003 UNESCO Cnvention on the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, on the listing process and other safeguarding methods. Attention is devoted to the impact of power processes, ethical dilemmas and sustainability and the differences between policy and practice. Building consensus and cultural brokerage are presented as promising key-practices. Every participant has the chance to study a recent or ongoing (non-Belgian and if possible non-European) nomination file for the 2003 convention lists of UNESCO and to present the results in a critical essay. In this module the focus is on structural and global evolutions, breakthroughs and challenges in the last fifty years.

In a third module we investigate how the academic world is coping with the breakthrough and development of the new heritage paradigms in the 21st century. Which promising developments can be detected? Several disciplines (from the art sciences, archaeology, (public) history, communication sciences, law, international politics, pedagogy, agogics, to tourism studies, ethnology, museology, archival science, economics... but also, for instance, natural sciences, medicine, pharmacy and ecology) are confronted and challenged by it. Is an interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary platform possible?

In the Anglo-Saxon world the concept of “critical heritage studies” is put forward as a potential solution. Exploring this alternative critically is the challenge expressed in the title of this course. Discourse analysis is a key method. (European-American) Authorized Heritage Discourse (a concept coined by Laurajane Smith) is still dominant, but under rising pressure: how will this evolve? A big opportunity for us is to confront these discussions with studies and reflections in other languages and with other stakeholders. We will add other ideas and results with a specific focus on politics and policy, practical instruments and processes of appropriation by several actors. Important connections (for our planet) are brought into focus through “heritage”, like diversity, sustainable development and “access and benefit sharing”. Of course, the impact of the UN Agenda 2030: towards sustainable development will be discussed. Here, our focus is on debates today, in the previous and the next ten years.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : PDFs en teksten, Canvas

Additional info

The teaching materials (slides, pdfs, texts) are made available on the digital learning platform (Canvas). We also use a series of rich websites, from www.unesco.org to www.faro.be

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

1. (4) The participant has a general knowledge and understanding of the historical and current relationships between heritage, institutions and society.

2. (5) The participant can, with expert guidance, formulate a problem and the corresponding research questions within the field of critical heritage studies.

3. (6.) The participant can make critical use of the reference framework

4. (8) The participant is able to examine primary sources, under expert guidance, and produce a critical, international literature study on a specific problem.

5. (9). The participant is capable of selecting and using, under expert guidance, adequate qualitative and/or quantitative research methods and thereby provides a response to specific research questions.

6. (11). The participant has active experience with exhibition practices, heritage conservation, field research and/or materials study.

7. (12). The participant facilitates dialogue and the involvement of present-day stakeholders through mediation and cultural brokerage.

8. (13). The participant has a critical, investigative and ethical attitude reflecting intellectual curiosity and honesty and a positive attitude towards life-long learning.

9. (14). The participant is inventive, creative and has learnt to find his own path, with an open mind and free of prejudice.

10. (15). The participant is prepared to apply humanist values to promote the sustainable development of social well-being. He/she is a citizen of the world, who can take on the current and future challenges of a globalising society.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Examination with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Oral examination. One of the questions starts from the casestudy of a UNESCO nomination file for the Representative list of intangible heritage of humanity, submitted by the student in December. Another question concerns the student's case study on immovable heritage and architectural conservation.

Mondeling examen. Een van de vragen vertrekt vanuit de case study van een UNESCO nominatiedossier voor de Representatieve lijst van het immaterieel cultureel erfgoed van de mensheid, dat de de student in December indient. Een andere vraag handelt over de case study die de student maakt over onroerend erfgoed en monumentenzorg.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context