Introduction to Heritage Studies and Management

Description

Heritage, a valuable bequest… is a legacy, an inheritance of worth, from the past. A reminder of what you were, lessons that you should learn, follow and lessons you need to unlearn. Memories that ought to be cherished, interrogated from the vantage position of the times you indwell in.
Heritage, a word that is often confused with tradition, custom, habit and culture as they too are all dependent on values of honour, courage, pride and at times we misuse them.
Allow this course to take you on a journey to understand what is heritage, what it means, and what the theories about it foretell. Learn about heritage management, the studies around them, the laws, acts and charters that govern them. Learn about tangible and intangible cultural heritages by travelling through archaeological sites and indigenous knowledge systems. Experience what the past has handed down to you and know how dead ancestors and future generations are bridged… Without which you will always be at a loss or Lost.

Syllabus
Day 1. What is Heritage?- A brief introduction to heritage, its definition and meaning in local Indian languages. Introduction to different segments in heritage and how we choose our heritage.
Day 2. Built Heritage- Theories on built heritage and what it includes, international charters and its evolution. Heritage at different levels – city, heritage complex and monuments. International and national categories of built heritage and laws/ policies around it.
Day 3. Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)- Theories on ICH and what it includes, international charters and its evolution. Different forms of ICH with focus on crafts, livelihood skills, performing arts/ music. Policies/ acts around ICH.
Day 4. Indigenous Knowledge systems (IKS). Understanding the concept of IKS. Indigenous communities and nature-culture ties. Policies and acts protecting the rights and affecting the indigenous communities. International charters.
Day 5. Archeological sites and its management . What is archaeology and archaeological site. Concepts and theories. Laws/ acts and charters protecting archeological sites and artefacts. Post archaeology site management process and maintenance.
Day 6. Heritage Management – Relation between tangible and intangible heritage, holistic approach towards heritage and its management. Heritage and development

Leora Pezarkar has a BA in history from Mumbai university and Masters in Heritage Management from Ahmedabad University. In the past couple of years, she has worked in the documentation of heritage in context of rural India in villages of Kutch where she worked in facilitating the village panchayat and local NGO in understanding and identification of heritage and nature-culture ties.

She has also worked as a Research Assistant with Live History India from 2017-18 and worked as heritage explorer for Travel-Logs (acqui-hired by Yatra.com) from 2013-15. Leora has presented papers at international conferences on various aspects of heritage including museums, community identity in case of Bene Israeli community and participatory approach in context of heritage identification and documentation. During her masters, she assisted her faculty as teaching assistant for independent study program ‘Experiencing Heritage’ conducted for the undergraduate students of Ahmedabad University.