Setting the Tone: Outline Class Syllabus What is cultural property? Can culture be owned and if so how? What does making culture into a form of property do to concepts of heritage and identity? Are all cultures or all claims to culture the same? How are institutions that hold cultural property responding? As debates and contests over cultural heritage and cultural property increase, this course introduces students to the field of heritage and cultural property. It explores the emergence of these concepts, their contemporary politics and the multiple interventions that inform this area. A general analysis of concepts of culture, property and rights will be provided and extended by looking at how these are circulated within different local, national and institutional sites. Specific focus will include: the impact of colonialism on the formations of cultural property; indigenous rights movements; the way cultural institutions are responding to cultural property claims; and how disputes over cultural property are being resolved. It is designed for undergraduate students interested in exploring inter-disciplinary approaches and scholarship. It provides an intersection across disciplines including anthropology, archaeology, legal studies, philosophy and politics. This course is organized in three units: considers the history of the concept of cultural The Emergence of Cultural Property – property and how it is used in popular, legal, academic and policy contexts. explores what happens when culture becomes understood as a Politics and Property – type of property that can be claimed and exclusively owned. Focusing on the differences in tangible and intangible property claims, it will consider the different types of politics that also emerge. considers how cultural property issues are being dealt Cultural Property in Practice – with in museums and other institutional contexts. It will also look at what kinds of options for resolving disputes over cultural property are being developed and with what effect.
Setting the Tone: Outline Class Syllabus What is cultural property? Can culture be owned and if so how? What does making culture into a form of property do to concepts of heritage and identity? Are all cultures or all claims to culture the same? How are institutions that hold cultural property responding? As debates and contests over cultural heritage and cultural property increase, this course introduces students to the field of heritage and cultural property. It explores the emergence of these concepts, their contemporary politics and the multiple interventions that inform this area. A general analysis of concepts of culture, property and rights will be provided and extended by looking at how these are circulated within different local, national and institutional sites. Specific focus will include: the impact of colonialism on the formations of cultural property; indigenous rights movements; the way cultural institutions are responding to cultural property claims; and how disputes over cultural property are being resolved. It is designed for undergraduate students interested in exploring inter-disciplinary approaches and scholarship. It provides an intersection across disciplines including anthropology, archaeology, legal studies, philosophy and politics. This course is organized in three units: The Emergence of Cultural Property – considers the history of the concept of cultural property and how it is used in popular, legal, academic and policy contexts. Politics and Property – explores what happens when culture becomes understood as a type of property that can be claimed and exclusively owned. Focusing on the differences in tangible and intangible property claims, it will consider the different types of politics that also emerge. Cultural Property in Practice – considers how cultural property issues are being dealt with in museums and other institutional contexts. It will also look at what kinds of options for resolving disputes over cultural property are being developed and with what effect.
002_setting_the_tone.docx