INFO 6870

How are archives and cultural heritage disputed or displaced in times of war, conflict and insecurity when the borders of states shift and jurisdictions change? What laws, structures, programs, and policies are in place to protect archives and cultural heritage from violence, theft, seizure, or destruction? And how is the repatriation, restitution or transfer of archives and cultural heritage negotiated, contested, and resolved? Together in this course we will trace the development of the relevant global laws, conventions and initiatives, with a focus on the period of reconstruction after the Second World War when well over a hundred newly independent states were created through anticolonial struggle and political decolonization across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and elsewhere around the world. We will learn about international institutions like UNESCO and its satellite agencies such as the International Council on Museums and the International Council on Archives, as part of a broader exploration of the role of the global archival and cultural heritage community. The class will become familiar with legal instruments like the Hague and Vienna Conventions of 1954 and 1983 respectively, mechanisms for the repatriation of heritage and cultural property, ‘shared heritage’ approaches, the role of microfilming and digital technologies in resolving disputes, the use of oral history to address archival deficiencies, and other solutions. And we will use case studies from Iraq, Turtle Island / North America, Kenya, Britain, the West Indies, Algeria and France to make connections between this history, the international laws and norms that emerge from it, and wider debates about orality, knowledge, human rights, democracy, antiracism and decolonization still very much relevant today. These include an examination of the issues raised by the Truth & Reconciliation Commission for the archival and heritage professions in a historical and global context while learning about how professionals and scholars engage the Commission’s Call to Action.