Course: Culture, conservation and development

LECTURER:

Dr Frank Poschan

• University of Texas at Austin. Ph.D. in Anthropology, 1989.   
• Fulbright teaching scholar, 2019.
• Consultant in cultural heritage, 2015-present.
• UNESCO, Paris. Programme Specialist, 2006-15, and Chief of the Programme Implementation Unit, 2013-15. Intangible Cultural Heritage Section, Sector for Culture.

TEACHING ASSISTANT:

Dr Phan Phuong Anh, Department of Anthropology, VNU Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities

TIME AND LOCATION:

• Time: 14:00-17:00, Monday, 3 hours per week, starting from 9 September 2019
• Location: Room 313 building A, Department of Anthropology, 336 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi

LANGUAGE:

English

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Vietnam today faces the pressing challenge to balance the imperatives of sustainable development and of safeguarding its cultural heritage and identity. The Constitutional goal of building “a progressive culture deeply imbued with national identity” has guided Vietnamese policy since 1992 and continues to figure into national strategies for sustainable development for the coming decades. The same challenge has faced countries around the world as they undergo rapid industrialization and post-industrialization, and an array of international treaties has been developed in response to support national efforts and international cooperation. This seminar provides an overview of the development and evolution of concepts of “cultural heritage” over the past hundred years, examines the existing international legal framework, and analyses Vietnamese responses. The focus will be on built cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage; movable heritage, museums, natural heritage, and underwater heritage will be touched upon but not covered in depth.

TO APPLY FOR THIS COURSE:

This course is open free of charge to postgraduate students, faculty members, researchers, and some selected undergraduate students. Course registration opens from 18 June to 25 August 2019. To apply for studying the course, you need to register with Ms Ngo Thi Chang at ngochangntc@gmail.com, or 84 94 190 38 55. The first 20 persons registered will be listed to participate this course and will be offered with full syllabus and course readings.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Week one: Introduction and objectives of the seminar

Week two: The heritage impulse

Week three: Monuments, landscapes, and vestiges

Week four: How to read a Convention: 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage

Week five: Cultural heritage in the face of industrialization

Week six: Towards the concept of “intangible cultural heritage”

Week seven: How to read a Convention: 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Week eight: Domesticating international law: the Vietnamese Law on Cultural Heritage and its implementing regulations

Week nine: Case studies in preserving tangible heritage in Vietnam, and one-day field visit out of Hanoi

Week ten: Case studies in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Vietnam

Week eleven: Concepts of sustainable development

Week twelve: ICH and sustainable development

Week thirteen: Tangible heritage and sustainable development

Week fourteen: Heritage in crisis – situations of conflict or environmental catastrophe

Week fifteen: Conclusion