Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2025 - ARCH 286 D100

Cultural Heritage Management (3)

Class Number: 3672

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jun 30 – Aug 8, 2025: Tue, Thu, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    30 units including one of ARCH 100, ARCH 101, ARCH 201, EVSC 100, GEOG 100, or REM 100.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines cultural heritage management as the universal process by which people use places, objects and traditions from the past to educate, entertain, profit, promote change, maintain status quo, create identities, and build communities and nations. The course presents archaeology as one aspect of cultural heritage management and as an activity governed by national laws and international conventions for protecting and making appropriate use of heritage. Using case studies from Canada and abroad, the course explores stewardship as a fundamental professional ethic in archaeology and other fields engaged in studying, applying, and safeguarding personal, familial, communal, national, and transnational heritage. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Cultural heritage management warrants study as the universal process by which people value and employ places, objects, and traditions from the past. We identify, record, assess, and suggest treatments for "vernacular" or communal CHM that is created and sustained (or not) by informal value systems and rules. We contrast this grassroots form of CHM with professional archaeology, museum sciences, and related fields of "authorized" CHM practice governed by formal international, national, and local governmental policies.

Groupwork exercises are based on heritage that is valued by individual students and are intended to highlight the prevalence of heritage and the ways it is cherished, used, and defended—often at considerable cost—by individuals and communities. We survey the policies—statutes, regulations, treaties, court decisions, etc.—that mandate and guide authorized CHM, giving particular attention to how policies affect CHM practice by archaeologists and museum professionals in Canada, the United States, and Indigenous contexts. We examine the consequential and ongoing roles of Indigenous community and government leaders in shaping CHM policy, ethics, and practice. Case studies illustrate how individuals and groups use heritage to create and perpetuate distinctive identities, while governments employ heritage in public education, economic stimulation, and national identity promotion. 

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Course completion will enable students to identify, then to think, discuss, and write about the following processes, using specific examples from personal observation: 

  • Humans use the past—both as experienced and as imparted to us—to define values, meanings, identities, and actions at social, spatial, and affective scales ranging from personal, local, and proliferating to universal, global, and tragic.
  • Authorized or official CHM (practiced by international, national, and regional governments) is distinct from unofficial or vernacular CHM (practiced by communal, familial interest groups, that is, heritage stewardship).
  • Archaeological practice is everywhere influenced by international and national rules and trends, as well as by local cultural values, land use, and economics.
  • The four essential steps followed by CHM archaeologists and other heritage professionals around the world: (1) identify, and inventory heritage; (2) record and document heritage; (3) assess and evaluate heritage significance (and threats to heritage); (4) plan and implement treatments to avoid and mitigate threats to heritage, typically through study, interpretation, stabilization, rehabilitation, or restoration.
  • Rapid expansion and diversification in heritage identification, treatment, interpretation, use, and management is creating demands for interdisciplinary CHM expertise in Canada and globally.

Grading

  • Participation, Leadership 15%
  • Online Quizzes (about 10 of these) 25%
  • Individual Assignments (about 3 of these) 30%
  • Group Assignments (about 10 of these) 30%

NOTES:

Academic dishonesty erodes trust and discourages good faith scholarship. Deceit and selfishness harm educational, management, and governance communities. SFU policy mandates intellectual integrity for all: http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

  • All work submitted for credit must either be the student’s wholly original intellectual property or must include complete and precise citations to all sources of information and ideas used.
  • APA is the only acceptable citation system:https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/cite-write/citation-style-guides/apa  (guidance here includes requirements for citing generative AI (only used for graphics).
  • All course materials are copyrighted. All lecture materials, notes, slides, and all quizzes, assignments are the instructor's exclusive intellectual property and are copyrighted. Sharing .pdfs or any other versions or downloads of course materials, whether or not you profit from it, is a violation of the student academic integrity policy. Recording, copying or sharing of instructional materials without the instructor's written permission is likely a violation of Canadian copyright law. This syllabus and all ARCH 286 content, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International LicenseLinks to an external site.
  • AI is not allowedto be used in any ARCH286 work or communication EXCEPT for the preparation of graphics to complement individual and groupwork assignments. CHM is about the real world, not the the digital world. See https://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity/UsingGenerativeAI.html
  • In the unfortunate event of illness or any other emergent circumstance that prevents participation in any synchronous course meeting or activity, please (1) consult a physician or other professional, (2) consult https://www.sfu.ca/students/support-services/support-resources.html, (3) work with one or more other student participants to secure notes and perspectives on material covered while absent, (4) contact, as needed, student_support@sfu.cato speak with a case manager. Instructors will not customize course requirements to address individual student circumstances.
  • Required module readings and associated assignments due prior to the start of pertinent class meetings. The course employs a free exchange of ideas consonant with SFU traditions of open communication, student empowerment, and community engagement. Optimize performance on assignmentsby asking (and answering!) questions that demonstrate knowledge of reading and discussion materials. The course is responsive to current issues, so be prepared for schedule revisions.
  • Assignments submitted after the due time / date are “docked” 25% per 24 hoursof tardiness (or any fraction thereof). Instructors will not consider requests for assignment extensions, substitutions, deferred grades, or course incompletes without receipt of verifiable evidence of medical disability or other incapacitation (e.g., documentation of medical appointments or letters from professionals who instructors may call to confirm incapacitation--all must include phone number in North America). 
  • Instructors' email policy is "students first." Allow 1-2 days for response. Always use your SFU email and your full, SFU-registered name in all communications. Instructors will not respond to email from persons unknown or from non-SFU email addresses. Please do NOT identify your self solely by your SFU Identification Number or any name other than your SFU-registered name.  
  • Use your full, SFU-registered name as your Zoom name. Instructors will exclude persons unknown from Zoom meetings. Please turn on your video feeds during class meetings whenever possible.
  • No Freeriding. Students who cannot participate actively in any synchronous course activity, especially the weekly Groupwork, and who wish nonetheless to obtain up to 60% (maximum) of the credit for the activity, must submit to the instructors an email prior to the start of the course meeting that includes (1) a list 3–5 excellent questions relating specific course materials and concepts to the groupwork or activity topic for the week (up to 40%/60%); and (2) a complete and precise description of contributions made by the missing student to the Groupwork or other activity despite student absence or nonparticipation (20%/60%).

Materials

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Department Undergraduate Notes:

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who may need class or exam accommodations, including in the context of remote learning, are advised to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.

Deferred grades will be given only on the basis of authenticated medical disability.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.