What is Heritage?

This course introduces the concept of heritage and examines its various uses in contemporary society. It is offered by the Open University through its online education platform called OpenLearn.

It provides a background to the development of critical heritage studies as an area of academic interest. It discusses how heritage studies has developed in response to various critiques of contemporary politics and culture in the context of deindustrialisation, globalisation and transnationalism. Drawing on a case study in the official documentation surrounding the Harry S. Truman Historic Site in Missouri, USA, it describes the concept of authorised heritage discourses (AHD).

Some of the learning outcomes of the course are:

• Understanding the global scope of heritage
• Differentiating between the ‘material’ and ‘non-material’ aspects of heritage
• Recognizing heritage as a ‘process’ as well as a ‘product’ of certain activities in the present
• Illustrating heritage studies as a specific field of study
• Demonstrating the idea of the authorised heritage discourse (AHD)