2018/19 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ARTF1202 Approaches to Living Histories and Heritage

20 creditsClass Size: 14

Module manager: Dr Liz Stainforth
Email: e.m.stainforth@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2018/19

Module replaces

ARTF1200 – Whose Past and Which Future? Exploring Living Histories and Heritage Today

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

How does something become 'heritage?' Whose expertise or ways of knowing counts in defining 'heritage' or studying 'the past?' Who makes decisions about 'heritage?' What does it mean for history or heritage to be 'living' or 'authentic?' What are the national and global futures of history and heritage? This module will introduce you to the central debates concerning 'living histories' and 'heritage.' We will explore the conceptual dynamics of 'history' and 'heritage' formed through tensions in enlightenment thinking and the still unfolding implications of modernity, nationalism, (post-)colonialism, industrialization and deindustrialization. In particular we will use two case studies. The first will explore the significance of the 'medieval' as a recurring image in the emergence of heritage thinking. The second will look at how 'life' and 'heritage' figure in decision-making about the future of cities. Throughout the module you will be asked to apply your thinking to specific tasks of 'interpretation,' using the Brotherton collections and engaging in specific planning issues effecting Leeds. The module will prepare you for Level 2 and 3 modules in history, heritage and museum studies.

Objectives

Students taking this module will learn how:
- To recognize key debates in history and heritage
- To identify relevance of key debates in history and heritage for other contemporary issues
- To apply key debates in history and heritage to project work on ‘interpretation’
- To critically reflect on, and develop own position in relationship to key debates in history and heritage

Learning outcomes
By the end of this module students will have become familiar with a range of debates and methodologies in national and global histories and heritage.
They will have learned how the different disciplinary perspectives that inform these debates and methodologies are relevant to contemporary life and will have considered their import in future developments.
Students will have demonstrated their ability to apply these debates and methodologies in their own work – both individually and within group projects.
Students will have had an opportunity to reflect on their own research and its place in scholarship. Through the variety of tasks students will have active engaged with ideas of varying audience and publics.

Syllabus

Semester 1 Week 1-Week 5 - Whose history? Whose heritage?
Is history and heritage for us today or for future generations? Is it for the people whose culture produced it – or for everyone or humanity?
Wk1: What is heritage?
Wk 2: The past, the public and living history
Wk 3: Histories of heritage
Wk 4: In/tangible cultural heritage – the politics of first nation heritage
Wk 5: Visit to a Leeds museum

Semester 1 Week 6-Week 11 – What counts? Decision Policy / Management / Adaption
How are decisions about heritage made? Whose voices get heard and how does ‘heritage’ fit within the life and ecology of a city? Some of these questions will be explored through a case study on decision-making for the future of cities.
Wk1: Cities and Heritage
Wk2: Museum/City.
Wk3: Planning and Ecology
Wk4: The Post/colonial City.
Wk5: Heritage decision making, adaption and change

Semester 2 Week 1- Week 5: Expertise/Authenticity
Whose ways of knowing count in the definition and management of heritage? Who decides if an artefact, idea or practice is authentic? Can you become an expert? What does it mean to interpret for a wider public? Some of these questions will be explored through the image of the Middle Ages in the development of the idea of heritage.
[We have indicatively shown what this block would look like with a Middle Ages focus but we anticipate the same topics of expertise and authority might be explore through different collections/temporal focus]
Wk 6: The idea of the Middle Ages: literature, film, national identity
Wk 7: Histories of a discipline – expertise in medieval history/studies
Wk 8: The history of collecting: manuscripts, archaeology and artefacts
Wk 9: Medieval places for an authentic experience
Wk 10: Medievalism in modern art, architecture and memorialisation
Wk 11: Presentation of group projects
Semester 2: Week 6-11 Future?
When is the future? How have our ideas of the future changed over time? What is bound up in ideas of ‘posterity’?
Wk 6: When is the future and what are the politics of posterity?
Wk 7: The future is medieval
Wk 8: Support on essay preparation
Wk 9: Conservation in practice: visit to a Leeds museum
Wk 10: Digital heritage
Wk 11: Reflections and looking ahead

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Fieldwork	2	2.00	4.00
Seminar	20	1.00	20.00
Private study hours			176.00
Total Contact hours			24.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Researching, preparing, and writing assignments; preparing a group presentation; undertaking set reading; and self-directed reading around the topic.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

2000 word formative piece of work in Semester 1, Week 5: ‘What is heritage?’. To support students in developing BA level writing.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Report	Reflective report on group project and presentation (1500 words)	15.00
Essay	2000 word essay	60.00
Group Project	Project to be presented in class	15.00
Presentation	Individual Presentation	10.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 06/08/2018

Disclaimer

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