DHIS 27A44 - The Return of Heritage

The question, deceptively simple, confronts us: what is heritage? More precisely, who possesses the authority to nominate something as heritage—and who, in turn, may claim to have inherited it? This interdisciplinary seminar takes heritage as its central problematic, understanding it as a political, cultural and legal category. Employing a comparative approach, class discussions and assignments trace the status of heritage in political and cultural life across Europe, Africa and North America. A collection of “object studies,” spanning the early nineteenth century to contemporary debates on cultural repatriation and justice, will anchor our coursework. Through close reading of texts and cultural forms embedded in indigenous studies, legal theory, American studies, political science, literature and art history we will explore together how forms of heritage are variably articulated, contested and reproduced over time.

Students will learn to parse and asperse complex forms of political, aesthetic and social life. ▪ Students will develop proficiency in their use of relevant vocabularies and theoretical paradigms. ▪ Students will be think comparatively about different problems and manifestations of heritage. ▪ Students will develop a textured awareness of relevant histories and trajectories. ▪ Students will understand the limits and possibilities of heritage as a discourse. ▪ Students will be able to generate meaningful connections between heritage and their own interests

(such as those in American studies, European studies or outside of the immediate field of inquiry). ▪ Students will advance their proficiency in written and oral analysis of cultural and political forms.