MA Heritage

Canterbury Christ Church University

In ‘Stories of Ourselves’ you will study the meaning of heritage in the past and today. We will explore the shifting interpretations of the meaning of heritage from an interdisciplinary perspective, engaging with themes including tourism, conservation, religion, national identity, memory, social justice and decolonisation. By the end of the module you will have undertaken the contextualising groundwork for the MA Heritage, laying the foundations that will underpin your work throughout the course.

Hands-on Heritage is a practical module that will develop your understanding of the broader heritage sector, while helping you gain a range of digital and practical skills that are essential for a role in industry, research and public engagement. You will explore the process of archaeological investigations - from project planning and site identification to excavation and recording, through to post-excavation analysis, conservation and publication. You will also develop digital skills that respond to the ongoing digital literacy crisis in the Historic Environment Sector, while also being innovative in mechanisms for engaging with heritage and place. This module culminates with the production of an exhibition created collaboratively with your cohort in one of our gallery spaces on campus.

The Practical Project is the second of two research focused modules, that complements the Independent Essay. In this module you will undertake a practical project, developed with an academic supervisor, that allows you to demonstrate the skillset you have developed over the course. This could be the production of a digital or pop-up exhibition, a visualisation of a heritage site, or another form of interpretation. By the end of the module you will have produced a piece of heritage interpretation to a professional standard that demonstrate the skills you have acquired from your studies.

We often conceive of Heritage as our historic environment. In Days of the Future Past you will revisit that concept to look at heritage as capturing tangible and intangible elements of our culture and past, the human interaction with our natural world (i.e. natural heritage) and the role heritage plays in the construction of place in today’s society. We will explore the processes that shape how we conceive of the world around us and the ability of heritage management practices to shape the world around us. Through the consumption of traditional and non-traditional forms of heritage and heritage interpretation, research and interrogation, you will come away from this module with the expertise to harness the power of heritage to evolve and innovate in an everchanging world.

The Independent Essay is one of two research focused modules that allow you to undertake a piece of research and writing on a subject of your choosing. With the support of an academic supervisor you will design a piece of research that will contribute to the deeper understanding of a specific site or more broadly to the discipline; this could be a piece of qualitative research asking the public about their understanding of a specific place, or considering how workers in the heritage industry deal with particular challenges. It will allow you to use the skills that you have developed in the course of your studies and demonstrate your understanding of key theories and the challenges that the heritage industry faces today.