- Course code: RL5140
- Credits: 10
- Language: English
Study program affiliation:
Religious Heritage for Sale RL5140
This course is designed to introduce students to the complex cluster of issues surrounding religious and cultural heritage artifacts and places. What gets to count as cultural heritage? Who gets to decide? What are the national and international rules regarding this material? How does colonialism play into discussions of these types of objects and places? What does it mean to own, buy, and sell religious and cultural heritage items? What is the significance of fakes and forgeries of this kind of material? The course attends to issues of method in the study of physical artifacts.
The course can be included in other masters-level study programs as an elective.
Organization
The course will consist of a mix of teaching and learning methods. Most classes will be seminar-style discussions of assigned texts, but students will also be asked to visit local museums to complete some assignments. For the seminar meetings, it is imperative that students read the assigned texts before coming to class.
Study requirements
In order to receive a final assessment, the student must:
- take active part in a minimum of 75 % of the formal teaching activities
- prepare 10 short (150-200 word) written assignments associated with the assigned readings for the course. These assignments are to be completed before the class meeting at which the readings will be discussed.
- prepare 4 short (10-15 minute) presentations related to a museum visit, an archaeological or religious heritage site, an online auction for antiquities, and a current news story about a disputed religious and cultural heritage artifact. Students are also expected to respond to each other’s presentations
- participate in the in-depth evaluation of the course if such evaluation is stipulated in the relevant term.
When course requirements are not fulfilled, this will count as one examination attempt, unless the student
withdraws before the set deadline (1 May/November).
Final assessment/Exam
RL5140 Religious Heritage for Sale is assessed with final approval of fulfilled study requirements. The
course will be assessed as «passed» / «failed».
To gain credits for the course the student must fulfill the course requirements in a single semester.
Learning outcome
Knowledge
The student has
- advanced knowledge of key concepts related to current discussions of religious and cultural heritage
- advanced knowledge of the role of colonialism in arguments for and against private ownership of religious and cultural heritage objects
- advanced knowledge of debates about nationalism and the import and export of religious and cultural heritage items
- good knowledge of the concept of materiality and approaches to the study of artifacts
Skills:
The student can:
- conduct short research projects based on museum visits and exploring online auctions of cultural heritage artifacts
- present the results of these research projects to their classmates and effectively (politely and constructively) respond to the work of their classmates
- think through ethical issues in connection with history, religion, and uses of the past
- speak in an informed way about material artifacts
Overlapping courses
The course has no credit reduction to other courses.
Course responsible
