Who it's for

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This course is part of the Heritage concentration.

Description

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Heritage is essential to our sense of identity and place in the world. However, it is increasingly under threat from conflict, tourism, natural disasters, climate change, and illicit markets. Museums have long played a crucial role in the collection and display of world heritage but many are undergoing a widespread historical reckoning about who owns the past, and how the provenance and history of material cultural objects should be presented to the public. The course will guide students through the history and most important updates to the UNESCO framework and operational guidelines for cultural heritage, and we will explore case students from Greco-Roman antiquity to the Middle East, Latin America, southeast Asia and China, with attention to key sites and disputed artefacts. We will also examine cultural heritage in relation to tourism and examine the impact of legitimate and illegitimate markets for relics and antiquities and the complex issues that underlie contemporary movements such as repatriation.