Heritage Studies: Preserving Our Natural and Cultural Pasts (and Futures)

Full course description

Heritage is often thought of as a material reality to be preserved – pristine landscapes or monumental architecture, for instance. However, in this course we do not exclusively approach heritage as material culture cast in monumental form, or as isolated ecosystems to be protected in reserves. Instead, we approach heritage as human practices of values, such as authenticity, integrity, or sustainability. A premise of the course is that heritage, whether tangible or intangible, always denotes the creation and recreation of a range of political, technological and ethical relations and meanings regarding the past, present and future. In other words, heritage is something that is done. In this course, we ask who does what, how and why? We will inquire into the histories, theories and practices of natural and cultural heritage preservation, learn about relevant national legislations and international conventions, and consider the emergence of new economies around heritage valorizations. We will encounter authoritative governmental and non-governmental heritage institutions and meet experts and managers of heritage in their fields.

Critically analyzing the ways heritage values are constructed and legitimized, the course situates contemporary heritage practices in global heritage assemblages: groupings of administrative apparatuses, technical infrastructures and value regimes that revolve around contested notions of heritage and that may transcend the nation state. The Past is a Foreign Country, as the title of one of the founding texts of the field of critical heritage studies from the 1980’s goes. But, where on earth shall we look for “the past” in our anthropocentric 21st century, if anywhere at all? Is there a place for nostalgia in current times of global humanitarian and ecological crises, marked by simultaneous yet conflicting appeals to development and conservation? How can we do justice to the diversity of our pasts, while preserving possible heritage futures, today?