Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course will investigate processes and politics that lead to the selection of what is considered as valuable to be preserved from the past – both tangible and intangible.  The primary aim will be thus to historically understand and challenge the creation of an idea of ‘universal world heritage’.  Classes will also focus on the role of institutional actors, either international (like Unesco), or national, or local that influence the selection and standardisation of heritage items, as well as the socio-economic and cultural implications that come along with heritage politics. Specific attention will also be given to the development of heritage in relation with the booming tourism industry in the past decade and to changing practices in museum management.

Students will acquire methodological and analytical tools to critically investigate processes that underlie the production of heritage.  A comprehensive approach is necessary for understanding heritage not only through the lens of conservation issues, but also as something that conveys collective representations of the past and contributes to shape/reshape collective memory.

Students will learn how to read through the lines of public discourses about heritage, authenticity, universality and look at their implications in terms of memory/forgetting, identity and nationalism, re-production as well as commodification of history.

With the aim to provide a theoretical and methodological background for the a critical understanding of heritage narratives and politics, the course will mainly focus on the following themes: the way heritage is used as a political and cultural tool; the relationship between heritage, history, memory and forgetting; the interplay between class and heritage; the spatial representation of heritage, displacement and segregation; identity politics and the construction of imagined pasts; tourism and the commodification of heritage and traditions.

The course will combine class lectures and seminars where students will read and discuss selected articles.

Each one of the six weeks will be dedicated to a specific sub-theme: the first two days of the week (Monday and Tuesday) will be dedicated to classroom lectures, while in the third day (Wednesday) the floor is left to the students for discussion on a specific paper.  A reading list of six papers will be provided to the students during the first week of the course.

Assessment for students who attend the class:

The final mark will be the result of the following elements: active participation in classroom seminars (25%); participation in group work for preparing a presentation on a selected case-study (25%); a written exam (50%; short questions and essay questions).  The exam will revolve around the general contents and readings of the course. In order to get top marks (27/30), students have to show not only descriptive knowledge but also critical capacity, adequate reference to the relevant literature.

Non-attending students:

Oral or written exam TBA. Non attending students are kindly advised to contact prof. Bobbio in advance, in order to receive the study guide for the preparation of the exam. Also, please contact the teacher for any problem with finding the books assigned.

Attending Students:

The book by Laurajane Smith is mandatory, other readings will be assigned when classes start.

Non attending students:

The programme will be updated in the winter of 2023.