Intercultural, Egalitarian and Sustainable Heritage

OBJECTIVES
Students will learn about and understand the contemporary theory of heritage and cultural studies.
Students will become familiar with the theory of affect, which in the field of heritage studies involves an understanding of the relationships established between subjects and objects, past and present, the power of politics/professions, and the powerlessness of local people.
Students will understand the role of the different actors who locate heritage within the needs of communities and who work toward European development strategies.

COMPETENCIES
Students will be able to analyse and evaluate the key roles, strengths, competencies, and responsibilities of various actors who co-create heritage in local communities.
Students will be able to identify how traditions, rituals, folk knowledge, memories, and material achievements from the past are transformed into elements and practices of local/national or transnational cultural heritage.
Students will be able to explain good and not-so-good practices of cultural heritage management in the border area along the western Slovenian border.
Students will develop and argue for a cultural heritage project.
Students will be able to apply the procedures, methods, tools and skills that have been designed to solve contemporary development problems in border and multicultural communities.

There is no enrolment condition or completed study obligations for the course Intercultural, Egalitarian and Sustainable Heritage.

The course is linked to the following courses:
Intercultural Multilingualism, Literature and Creativity and Intercultural Creativity.

In this course, students will first become familiar with modern concepts of cultural heritage and the reflections on different ways to evaluate, interpret, and mobilize the past for the present and future. They will learn about contemporary humanities developments in the field of heritage studies as well as understand its critique (Critical Heritage Studies). The course departs from the assumption that the past is a negotiated construct that is strongly interwoven with contemporary socio-political values, views, and power relations and that these affect what is selected from the past and what is forgotten.

Based on the presentation, analysis and evaluation of various cultural practices related to the process of producing heritage, students will identify and categorize those holders of power (politicians, entrepreneurs, experts, civil society) that actively participate in the implementation of cultural heritage practices and, at a later stage, that manage cultural heritage (tangible and intangible) in cross-border and intercultural communities.

In the second part of the course, students will be introduced to the policy discourse associated with using cultural heritage to achieve sustainable development (e.g., addressing environmental and intercultural challenges, strengthening communities, addressing inequalities, promoting health, alleviating the effects of poverty and migration), new content for lifelong and experiential learning, and sources for development within the cultural and creative sectors (marketing, fashion, photography, the culinary arts, etc.).

Special attention will be given to understanding the role of local people in the creation of cultural heritage. Students will use different affective practices to critically evaluate the socio-political and economic role of cultural heritage in local communities, placing an emphasis on the range of urgent issues related to the ethics of using local heritage for purposes of development. In this context, students will apply critical thinking methods to discuss concepts such as equality, cultural rights, sustainability, and ethics, inclusive and participatory society, which UNESCO’s and Council of Europe’s conventions link to cultural heritage processes.

In the seminar, students will analyse and evaluate good and not-so-good practises in the use of cultural heritage to strengthen communities in cross-border and multicultural contexts. Based on creative thinking, knowledge acquired from the course and their own originality, they will prepare a proposal for a project that puts cultural heritage to ethical purpose by involving it in the mitigation of current social and economic challenges.

Students will understand the basic concepts related to cultural heritage, i.e., tradition, innovation, past, nostalgia, identity, community, development, cultural rights, ethics, affect.
They will understand, analyse and be able to evaluate the fundamentals of Heritage Studies and its critique.
They will be able to analyse, evaluate, and reflect on various practices and processes of cultural heritage management in border and cross-cultural communities.
They will be able to argue for the advantages, disadvantages, obstacles and opportunities of funding cultural heritage practices through European development projects (Interreg, Creative Europe).
They will be able to plan and design projects to integrate cultural heritage into development opportunities.
They will be able to apply their knowledge of cultural heritage research to new situations to solve current development problems.
They will develop the skills necessary for constructive discussion of the use of cultural heritage for purposes of development.

• SERTIĆ, Irena, BUBAŠ, Josipa, STEINBOCK, Kristina, PURG, Peter, PARAMON, Ramon. PAIC framework: Participatory Art Scenario and Narrative". V: SERTIĆ, Irena (ur.). PAIC, participatory art for invisible communities. Zagreb: Omnimedia, 2018. Str. 98-109. ISBN 953-95119-1-7. E-version
• AHMED, Sara: The Cultural Politics of Emotion. New York in London: Routledge, 2004. Catalogue
• SMITH, Laurajane in NUTSUKO, Akagawa (ur.), Intangible heritage. London in New York: Routledge, 2009, 45–73.
• MESKELL, Lynn (ur.): Global Heritage: A Reader. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2015, 43–69.Catalogue
• FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna: Procesi ustvarjanja kulturne dediščine: Kraševci med tradicijo in izzivi sodobne družbe. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2011. Catalogue
• FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna. Procesi ustvarjanja kulturne dediščine: na razpotju med neoliberalizmom in prostovoljstvom v okviru dediščinskih društev. Etnolog: glasnik Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja. 30/81, 2020b, 69–88. E-version
• FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna; POGAČAR, Martin; ŠTRAUS, Matevž, LEMUT BAJEC Melita: Dediščina v akciji: Poti in načini vključevanja mladih v ohranjanje in interpretacijo dediščine. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2021. E-version
• LABRADOR M. Angela in SILBERMAN, Neil Asher (ur.). The Oxford Handbook of Public Heritage, Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press, 2018.Catalogue
• SILVERMAN, Helaine in RUGGLES, D. Fairchild (ur.): Cultural Heritage and Human Rights. New York: Springer, 2015, 33–52. E-version
• SMITH Laurajane; WETHERELL, Margaret in CAMPBELL, Gary: Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present. London: Routledge, 2018. Catalogue
• SMITH, Laurajane: Uses of Heritage. London in New York, Routledge, 2006. Catalogue
• TOLIA-KELLY, Divya P.; WATERTON, Emma in WATSON, Steve (ur.): Heritage, Affect and Emotion: Politics, Practices and Infrastructures. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017, 2–11.
• WATERTON, Emma in WATSON, Steve. (ur.). 2015. The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research. Palgrave Handbooks. Basingstoke in New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Catalogue E-version

Written exam (60%)
Seminar work / project (40%)

// Assoc. Prof. Peter Purg, PhD currently leads the New Media module in the Digital//Media Arts and Practices graduate//postgraduate programme at the School of Arts, University of Nova Gorica, where he acts as Associate Professor, projects coordinator as well as expert across realms of digital culture and media. Since December 2021 he is Dean of the School of Humanities. Having obtained a PhD in media art, communication science and literary studies from the University of Erfurt (Germany), his scientific inquiries now include media arts pedagogy, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, media art and media ecology. His artistic interests range from (lecture) performances and intermedia installations to public-space interventions as well as participatory creative processes. He is active in the field of cultural and higher education policymaking and quality assurance.