HENK03908U English - Free topic 10: Heritage and the Invention of Tradition (exam form A,B,C)

Volume 2015/2016
Content

Heritage is crucial to our sense of identity, whether it is as part of a nation or as a part of wider global society. Many students find jobs in which the communication of heritage and tradition play an important role. In this course, we will develop critical frameworks for understanding how literary and other cultural traditions are created and negotiated. In particular, we will examine how national culture is ‘invented’ through literary texts, images and heritage institutions. Through a number of interesting and exemplary case studies, we will study the phenomenon and its historical contexts over the past couple of centuries in Britain and elsewhere. On our list of works are also recent popular films that either propagate a version of national heritage (for example, the adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels) or outright misrepresent history. Another line of enquiry is concerned with exposing literary traditions and cultural practices which we think of as very old as recent inventions. In some cases to be examined, literary texts have actually been forgeries. A key question is here what characterizes the cultures of heritage forgery.

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 176,75
  • Total
  • 204,75
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Other
Criteria for exam assesment