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Sustainable Archaeology and Heritage

Overview

  • Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
  • Convenor: Dr Hiba Alkhalaf
  • Assessment: coursework of 1000 words (20%) and a 4000-word essay (80%)

Module description

Sustainable archaeology and heritage work toward shifts in practice - especially in response to climate change, armed conflict and calls for decolonisation - that are equitable, inclusive, community-centred and eco-conscious.

This module is ideal if you are interested in exploring sustainability in archaeology and the heritage sector: practices that recognise that heritage work must move away from extractive models and toward practices that prioritise justice, environmental awareness, human and non-human rights, as well as cultural and natural sustainability.

Working with a range of global case studies, this module allows you to work on the past in a way that looks towards the future.

Indicative syllabus

Legacies

  • Introduction
  • Sustainable archaeology and heritage
  • Archaeology and extractivism
  • UNESCO and sustainable development goals

Practices

  • Community and public archaeology
  • Conflict, heritage and activism
  • Capacity building
  • Commercial sector

Futures

  • Digital infrastructures for sustainable practice (including practical session in Immersive Learning Centre)
  • Archives as sustainable practice
  • Embedding sustainable archaeology and heritage

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • understand what is meant by sustainability in archaeology and heritage
  • discuss the methodological implications of sustainability in archaeology and heritage
  • explain sustainable archaeology from a historical and historiographical perspective
  • participate in informed debates about current archaeological and heritage research, in both small and large group discussions.