Heritage under Threat

In this course you will learn to articulate your own concepts about (threatened) heritage and that of others. What is your heritage? Who defines heritage? Why is heritage under threat? How can we protect heritage? WW1, WW2, Cold war politics and contemporary conflicts as well as continuing political and socio-economic inequalities and colonial pasts are all factors playing a role in the global heritage discussions and approaches to (or lack of ) valorization and protection of heritage. Hence, issues behind destruction or threats to heritage are related to complex issues, often connected to complex landscapes of wars, the war-on-terror, fundamentalism, migration, global warming, financial crises, inequality and diverse interests of local communities. This course, sponsored by the LDE Centre for Global Heritage and Development and the Honours Academy of Leiden University, and the Netherlands Commission for UNESCO gave its support to one of the sections of the MOOC, will explore these issues. We wish to engage global communities and widen the perspective on threatened heritage. You can help us with this.