95693 - Workshop on Innovative, Transcultural and Participatory Methodologies

Learning outcomes

The workshop aims at illustrating and discussing some of the methods and tools that are adopted in the development, human rights and cultural heritage fields with the aim of facilitating the recognition and valuing of pluralism and interculturality, as well as the development of respectful transcultural dynamics, ensuring the participation of all the actors and the inclusion of the most vulnerable groups. By the end of the workshop, the student has acquired a sound knowledge of the most used participatory and transcultural methodologies and tools and is capable of applying them in projects and activities for the protection of human rights and cultural heritage.

Course contents

This workshop investigates the global illicit trafficking of antiquities from MENA, its threats to local communities and their cultural heritage, and its connections with international criminal activities and organizations. After a brief historical introduction, in which the phenomenon is framed in the context of colonialism, imperialism and economic liberalism, including its last digital form, the workshop considers two main sets of issues: restitution and reparative justice towards the victims, and cultural heritage protection, enacted through forms of transnational cooperation between various agencies (e.g., law enforcement, local communities, archaeologist and other expert teams, ONGs).

The workshop requires regular and active attendance, as it is based on collaborative assignments and tasks to be performed in class.

Readings/Bibliography

The following selected bibliography is not mandatory, but can help understanding topics and issues addressed in the workshop:

Gerstenblith, P. 2023. Cultural Objects and Reparative Justice: A Legal and Historical Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hufnagel, S. and Chappell, D. (eds.) 2019. The Palgrave Handbook on Art Crime, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Mackenzie, S. R. M., Brodie, N., Yates, D., Tsirogiannis, C., (eds.) 2019. Trafficking Culture: New Directions in Researching the Global Market in Illicit. London and New York: Routledge.

Mazza, R. 2024. Stolen Fragments: Black Markets, Bad Faith, and the Illicit Trade in Ancient Artefacts. Stanford: Redwood Press/Stanford University Press.

Meskell, L. 2018. A Future in Ruins UNESCO, World Heritage, and the Dream of Peace. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

O’Keefe, P.J. 2017. Protecting Cultural Objects Before and After 1970. Builth Wells: Institute of Art and Law.

Teaching methods

After few introductory lectures, the workshop takes a hands-on approach. Students are asked to analyze and discuss a set of case-studies in the light of assigned materials, tasks, and readings on colonial and post-colonial collecting practices and methods; international and national laws and conventions; museum and other professional policies and ethic guidelines, on collecting and restitutions; reparative justice applied to cultural heritage practices and methods.

Assessment methods

Regular and active attendance is mandatory; in order to get the credits, students must actively partecipate to discussions and collaborative work and tasks performed in groups and/or individually in class.

Teaching tools

Short readings on paper and online distributed in class; Powerpoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Roberta Mazza