Seminar in Cultural Heritage, Museology and Conservation

Work in the seminar is based on guided reading of articles and variety of current and older literature, in accordance to the topics or the area of particular seminar. Main activities are guided discussions and independent student presentations of their own research as well as consulted reading. Each student prepares and defends a seminar work in the range of 30.000 to 60.000 characters with spaces. Each study year mentors or leaders of the seminar acquaint the students with the specific topic of the seminar and accordingly provide them basic literature, which they discuss about within the seminar.
In the first semester the student presents the topic of his or her seminar work, which is followed by a guided discussion, and by the end of the semester he or she prepares and submits its disposition. 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 seminar work.