Saving Graces: Preservation of Culture and Cultures

Fall, Winter, Spring/Contract or Coordinated Study

Coordinator:

Contact: Randy Stilson L3301, ext. 6126

Enrollment:

Prerequisites:

Special Expenses:

Part Time Options:

Internship Possibilities:

Additional Course Allowed:

"Saving Graces: Preservation of Culture and Cultures" will depend upon insights from many disciplines in the attempt to explore mankind's fascination with preserving portions of its past and the dichotomy between saving the past and destroying it in order to progress. Students will study the dissipation and disintegration of cultures and cultural materials and mankind's attempts to salvage and restore both artifacts and intangibles (such as folkways, mythology, arts and crafts, etc.). Program participants will explore the causes of this phenomena by seeking answers to questions such as: What is the first evidences of the preservation urge in man?, Is this behavior innate to mankind's psyche?, What is the relationship between destruction of material artifacts representing the past and the concept of progress?, among others.

The historical aspect will be far ranging from prehistoric times to the present. Those interested in the "psychology of cultures" will be able to explore the rise and fall of civilizations through the magnifier of how specific civilizations cultivated, inculcated or destroyed their own or neighboring cultures. Topics will be explored comparable to: the U.S. Government's attempts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to separate American Indian tribes from their cultural heritage or, the use of the "melting pot" concept by the predominate Anglo-European U.S. culture as an attempt to subvert cultural elements brought to this country from other locations on the globe; the French government’s attempts to prevent corruption of the French language by words from other languages; exploration of the concept of "new is better", its history and consequences for traditions and cultural materials. Other topics may include: studies of the destruction of significant cultural materials and artifacts, (i.e., the library at Alexandria, Egypt; the attempted defacement of the Mona Lisa; the attempt by Serbia to obliterate Islamic culture in Bosnia in the 1990’s), or the preservation of the same, (such as the removal of tombs from the valley of the Nile prior to the building of the Aswan Dam or the restoration of the Sistine Chapel). Advanced studies within this curriculum could include aspects of materials science, i.e. chemistry of preservation science and related topics.

Depending on interest, there may be a strong component of hands on preservation skills and the ethics of conservation/preservation/restoration of cultural materials. Instruction on how to procure (for preservation) the intangibles of past cultures both through the study of artifactual remains and individual and corporate memories of people will be part of the program.

Some disciplines and subject areas that may be represented within this program are: American Studies, Anthropology, archeaology, architecture and the historic preservation movement, art conservation, computer science, culture studies, ethnology and ethnography, European studies, history, information science (specifically research in primary documentation), materials sciences, Native American studies, paper conservation, philosophy, social psychology, sociology (ex: study of "progress", its creative and destructive sides), etc.