Our reasons for studying the past used to be mostly self-evident: it was interesting and important as a part of world history. That appeal to universal values and to the “international community” is more problematic now as we collectively recognize that it often disregards and disenfranchises local communities and heritage narratives and extracts the benefits of research from them for use by a Euro-American academic elite.

This course aims to introduce theoretical foundations and recent postcolonial scholarship on community engaged and collaborative archaeology, heritage, and museums. Since heritage issues vary so significantly in different areas of the world, we will examine a series of case studies largely from research and field practice of active scholars at Michigan. We will also draw on the resources of the Ginsburg Center of community and civic engagement here on campus. The course will emphasize discussion and a final project (with flexibility in format) will ask participants to develop a proposal for postcolonial and collaborative practices in a specific research setting.

Intended Audience:

The course is intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates who may continue to graduate school in their fields. As the instructor is an anthropologist, field archaeologist, and museum curator, the course will focus on archaeology, museums, and heritage, but students in related fields including history and history of art are also welcome.