ANTH 554G - Heritage and Communities

Credits: 4

Heritage is a complex and contested domain that includes legislation to protect antiquities and cultural traditions, conceptions of local and national identities, political struggles, and crucial economic resources. In this course, we will explore the concept of heritage as it intersects with contemporary communities (conceived of in a variety of ways, including descendant, local, and diasporic). We will examine how the work of heritage is acrried out and consider its changing role in social relations by critically engaging theory and case studies of real-world heritage empowerment (and disempowerment) in a range of global contexts including (but not limited to) post-apartheid South Africa, the Middle East, the Northeast, and Europe. Occasional.