The course will be taught in English this semester.
Course Content
The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015. It consists of seventeen integrated goals that aim at ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by the year 2030. The three pillars of sustainable development are economic, environmental and social. This course starts with the simple question: What about culture? Is there anything cultural institutions can contribute to sustainability and sustainable development?
To answer the question the course will explore the emergence of sustainability in cultural institutions, museums and the heritage sector. The global environmental crisis and concerns about the impact on cultural and natural diversity has driven policy makers, scholars and practitioners to incorporate the notion of sustainability in theory, planning and practice. From emphasis on preservation and protection of heritage, to museums empowering the global society, intergovernmental organizations such as The World Heritage Convention and International Council of Museums are working on harnessing the sectors potentials to contribute to sustainable development.
This course will start with critically analyzing sustainable development within a wider historical, cultural and political context. Is there a cultural history of sustainability? In what cultural context did the concept emerge and whose futures does it project?
Moving from a top-down approach the course will go beyond political and intergovernmental statements and policy making on sustainability by investigating the diverse and particular ways cultural institutions, museums and heritage sites deal with the issue. Students will participate in locating and discussing cases and reflect on the emergence of sustainability in culture through group and individual assignments.
Learning outcome
By the end of the course you will:
- be equipped with the ability to critically engage with the notion of sustainability
- have good knowledge on how sustainability appears and affects museums, cultural and natural heritage
- have good knowledge of the main issues and challenges facing museums and heritage sites in times of global environmental crisis
- be able to apply academic knowledge to critical analysis of sustainability, culture, museums and heritage
- have acquired knowledge of methodological and theoretical approaches to analyse and understand sustainability in a museum and heritage study perspective
Teaching
The teaching is given as lectures and seminars. It requires active participation in discussions and group activities where the aim is to gather information about specific cases, discuss them and analyse in the seminars.
Compulsory activity
There will be a group assignment mid-term which students need to pass in order to take the exam. More information about this will be given at the start of term.
Examination
The exam of the course is a group assignment and an individual assignment.