Cultural Heritage 1202-H-DK-S1

The aim of the lecture is to introduce students to the subject of cultural heritage. The lecture's thematic scope is broad, reflecting both the breadth of the subject and the range of contemporary approaches developed within heritage studies, which understand cultural heritage as “a process of socially constructing and assigning value to the past”. The starting point is a broad understanding of culture, conceived not merely as the product of the work of talented individuals, but as the totality of social practices. Accordingly, the course addresses not only traditional tangible and intangible heritage, but also the processes through which heritage is constituted, normalised and remembered, its functioning and reception within society, and the inherited, normalised systems of thought and action that shape society, including institutional heritage and the heritage of scholarly discourse.
As part of the lecture, students will be introduced to the contemporary legal frameworks, standards, challenges, problems, paradigms and approaches relating to heritage, including its protection, creation, conservation, maintenance and public accessibility. The principles underlying the creation and protection of heritage will also be examined in their historical contexts. The course will encourage students to adopt a metareflective perspective on the processes and consequences of heritage-making, asking not only what we consider worth preserving and why, but also how the criteria underlying these choices have been shaped by historical circumstances. This reflection will also encompass inherited institutions, values, ways of thinking and discourses that contribute to shaping our understanding of culture and its heritage. The role of education in the creation and impact of cultural heritage will also be discussed. The course will further explore contemporary forms of researching, reclaiming and experiencing heritage, as well as cases of heritage erasure in various regions of Poland and around the world. A dedicated part of the course will examine urbanity as a form of heritage perceived as foreign in some European countries, as well as the impact of historical heritage on urban development.

Ultimately, the course aims to equip students with the skills necessary to pursue further independent study of cultural heritage and heritage studies.

Provisional schedule of topics

1. What is cultural heritage? How and why is it defined? Who decides what becomes heritage?
2. The origins of heritage protection, Part I: acquisition, storage and conservation
3. The origins of heritage protection, Part II: contemporary law and standards
4. The origins of heritage protection, Part III: looting and restitution
5. Researching, reclaiming and erasing heritage, Part I: regional studies in Poland
6. Researching, reclaiming and erasing heritage, Part II: controversies around the world
7. Urbanity as a contested form of heritage
8. Disneylandisation, retroversion, authenticity and the functionality of heritage in cities
9. Teaching history or teaching heritage? The role of heritage in education and the role of education in heritage protection
10. The heritage of institutions and systems
11. The heritage of scholarly discourse: colonisation and decolonisation of knowledge
12. People and local communities as heritage
13. The workshop of the historian of cultural heritage: concluding reflections
14. Consultation session
15. Examination