Handbook

This course examines the relationships between international law, heritage and identity. Heritage, both cultural and natural, embodies and marks the identities of nations, communities, Indigenous peoples and other minorities, and our own individual identities. This course unpacks the different ways in which the law shapes what identities are possible in the world. We examine the protection of heritage in wartime, the law and politics of the restitution of cultural objects taken during colonialism, the way world heritage sites are created and managed (as well as how they can be used to expel entire communities from their lands), how underwater heritage goes so far beyond the Titanic, and the politics of intangible cultural heritage (also known as folklore). Through these topics, we query the relationships between identity and human rights, how the law helps or hinders us positioning ourselves in the world, and what it means for the law to be a battleground through which we create, pursue, erase and contest ourselves and others.