ANTHR 7460

Heritage and its Entanglements: Representing, Collecting, and Preserving Cultural Identity

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2017-2018.

An exploration of the ways that cultural heritage is embodied in things, particularly archaeological landscapes, sites, and artifacts.   Identifying stakeholders in relation to collecting and controlling these things and representing heritage is a key focus:  what voices should states and other political entities have?  local residents? descendants?  How should descendants be identified?  Other key topics include looting and the market in smuggled antiquities; repatriation; the ethics of studying and publishing looted objects; community engagement; forces that destroy heritage and strategies for preserving it; re-invented and imagined heritage.  These issues will be examined using the collections of the Johnson Museum of Art and through case studies, including Colonial Williamsburg, African Burial Ground, Harriet Tubman House, the ancient Maya, and archaeology in the Third Reich.

When Offered Fall.

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