Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies

The Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies minor reflects a broad set of concerns related to how we think about and treat cultural heritage objects and sites. In the twenty‐first century, museum institutions—whether historic sites and battlefields, museums of science, art, or natural history—stand at an intersection between education and cultural diplomacy where thorny issues about ownership, repatriation, preservation, tradition, and looting are often very publicly debated. Courses of this minor relate to issues of ethical treatment of cultural heritage concerning the manipulation, production, and destruction of objects and sites in pursuit of generating specific narratives of history and cultural identity. Through course work and experiential learning, the CHMS minor provides students the opportunity to examine both the theory and practice of cultural heritage and the museum world.