90102 - Anthropology of Heritage

Learning outcomes

Since the adoption of the World Heritage Convention, various definitions have influenced the ways in which heritage is classified, perceived and managed in contemporary global societies. The course aims to underline an interdisciplinary approach to the many tangible and intangible ‘things’ we defined as heritage, looking also to the different ways that in different countries have been selected to make up heritage and to manage it, sometimes against UNESCO Conventions and values. The course attempts to account for the global phenomenon and the industry that has grown up around heritage, and to critically presents a ‘toolkit of concepts’ with which it might be studied.

Course contents

Lesson 1. What is Cultural Heritage? A Critical Genealogy
Introduction to the course
Cultural heritage as a historical, not a natural, category: origins of the concept, critique of the notion of spontaneous "heritage." Presentation of the critical heritage studies approach.

Lesson 2. Heritage as Process and Device
Heritage as discourse (in the Foucaultian sense) and as situated social practice. Authorized Heritage Discourse. "Official" vs. "bottom-up" heritage (unofficial/subaltern heritage).

Lesson 3. Heritage Development: Ethnographic Perspectives
Analysis of ethnographic cases of heritage development: actors, conflicts, negotiations. Who decides what is heritage? The role of anthropologists in valorization processes.

Lesson 4. Building Heritage: Anthropological Perspectives
Cultural heritage as an ongoing social construction. Italian anthropological perspectives compared with the international debate. Group discussion of cases.

Lesson 5. UNESCO and the Rhetoric of Intangible Heritage
The Birth and Development of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Category. From Gramsci's Notion of Popular Culture to the UNESCO Lists: Continuity and Disruptions.

Lesson 6. Intangible Heritage and Development Policies
The Case of Sardinian Canto a Tenore: From Local Practice to UNESCO Heritage. Heritageization and Territorial Development Policies. Screening of Audiovisual Materials and Discussion.

Lesson 7. Ethnographic Museums and Museum Anthropology
The ethnographic museum as a place of heritage production. History and Crisis of the Ethnographic Museum in Italy. The Role of the Anthropologist Between Field Research and Museography.

Lesson 8. Collecting Art and Culture: Clifford's Critique
The "art-culture system" according to James Clifford: collecting, authenticity, and object classification. Comparison between art museums and ethnographic museums. Collective debate on museum cases.

Lesson 9. Memory as a Cultural Fact
Individual Memory and Collective Memory. Memory as a cultural and social construction, not simply a recollection. The relationship between memory and heritage: places, rituals, narratives.

Lesson 10. Cancel Culture, Difficult Heritage, and the Rewriting of History
Cancel Culture as a Cultural and Political Phenomenon. Contested Monuments, "Difficult" Heritage, and the Rewriting of Public Memory.

Readings/Bibliography

Clemente, P. (2006), "Antropologi tra museo e patrimonio", Antropologia, n. 7 - Patrimonio culturale, pp. 155-173.

Clifford, J. (1993 [1988]), "Sul collezionare arte e cultura", in I frutti puri impazziscono. Etnografia e arte alla fine del XX secolo, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, pp. 249-289.

Dei, F. (2013), "Da Gramsci all'UNESCO", Parolechiave, n. 49, pp. 131-146.

Dei, F. (2021), "La cancel culture come subcultura politica", Psiche, pp. 493-509.

Di Pasquale, C. (2019), Memoria. Il ricordo come fatto culturale, Il Mulino, Bologna.

Harrison, R., Il patrimonio culturale. Un approccio critico.

Iuso, A. (2021), "Cancellare, riscrivere. Cancel culture, riscrittura della storia e difficult heritage", Rivista di antropologia contemporanea, pp. 197-212.

Iuso, A. (2022), Costruire il patrimonio culturale. Prospettive antropologiche, Carocci, Roma.

Satta, G. (2013), "Dal parco al 'progetto pastoralismo'. Il canto a tenore tra patrimonializzazione e politiche dello sviluppo", Parolechiave, n. 49, pp. 69-84.

Simonicca, A. e Bonetti, R. (a cura di) (2016), Etnografia e processi di patrimonializzazione, Cisu, Roma.

Teaching methods

The course is taught through lectures, especially in the first and second parts, group discussions on ethnographic cases, screenings of audiovisual materials, especially in the third part, and guest lectures (anthropologists).

Students with learning disabilities (LD) or temporary or permanent disabilities: please contact the relevant University office in advance (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it), which will advise the affected students of any possible adaptations. Such adaptations must be submitted to the instructor for approval 15 days in advance, who will evaluate their suitability, also taking into account the learning objectives of the course.

Assessment methods

The exam is oral. The interview focuses on the texts and topics covered in class (anthropology of heritage, UNESCO and intangible heritage, ethnographic museums, memory, cancel culture, and difficult heritage) and aims to test knowledge of the syllabus, the ability to critically analyze ethnographic cases of heritageization, and the ability to connect the various course topics into a coherent discussion.

Teaching tools

The course uses slides and materials from lectures, audiovisual and ethnographic materials shown during class, texts and articles included in the program made available through the University platform, and the course's online platform for communications, supplementary materials, and discussion forums.

Office hours

See the website of Corinna Sabrina Guerzoni