Pre-Diploma Seminar in Cultural Heritage, Museology and Conservation

When a student registers to the third year, he or she selects pre-diploma seminar. In its frame he or she will work under the guidance of selected mentor with whom he or she will at the end defend the diploma work. In the first semester the student prepares the disposition of the diploma thesis, while in the second semester he or she presents it, discusses about it and, if necessary, supplements it within the pre-diploma seminar.
Pre-diploma seminar is organized as straightforward multi-directed exchange of knowledge and information between its participants and leaders (discussions about the material students read, searching for the sources and literature, methodological instructions, skills of oral presentation of knowledge).

The seminar relates to the following established fields in the study program of ethnology and cultural anthropology: ethnological museology, the culture of architecture and living, social memory and cultural heritage.
Within the seminar students learn about current research questions related to memory, tradition, cultural heritage, heritage industry in Slovenia and elsewhere, deal with historical and contemporary approaches to recognizing, evaluating and interpreting cultural and natural heritage. They get acquainted with the examples of the heritage-restored areas, processes which transformed their living environments and practices of their inhabitants, while students also analyze how various participatory heritage practices influence sustainable development of the studied environments. Special attention of the seminar is dedicated to the intangible cultural heritage, especially to traditional music, dance, rituals, practices and conceptualisations of the world. The seminar also encourages students to critically consider current social phenomena related to past and contemporary ways of living, it deals with the in-depth insights into various topics in the field of building and living culture and it presents the specifics of various professions involved in changing, protecting, maintaining and managing living, especially built environment. The seminar deals with classical conservation topics (conservation interventions and strategies) while it also pays special attention to the importance of ethnographic methods in conservation.

Van Mensch Peter in Leontine Meijer van Mensch: New Trends in Museology II. Celje: Muzej novejše zgodovine Celje, 2015. COBISS.SI-ID – 283005184
Knell, Simon (ur.), 2019, The Contemporary Museum: Shaping Museums for Global Now. London, New York: Routledge. COBISS.SI-ID - 2442374

Each year separately those who lead the seminar prepare the list of literature - individually for each student and according to his or her chosen topic of the diploma work.