Prerequisits:

There are no specific prerequisites. However, prior knowledge of basic theories and research methods in ethnology, anthropology, folklore studies, cultural heritage studies, or related fields—is recommended.

Content (Syllabus outline):

The course examines the heritagization of religions as a complex, processual, and multidimensional phenomenon in which religious experiences, cultural and heritage policies, identity-forming processes, as well as processes of touristification and commodification intertwine. The central focus is on the theoretical, epistemological, and methodological challenges that accompany the study of the heritagization of religions in contemporary academic contexts and in heritage-management practices.

Particular emphasis will be placed on:

• Epistemologies and theories of the heritagization of religions;
• Processes of heritagizing diverse religious rituals, beliefs, narratives, and bodies of knowledge;
• Religious practices, sites, narratives, and related phenomena situated between authorized and unauthorized heritage discourses;
• The relationship between adherence to a religious system and heritage in both traditional and contemporary religious systems;
• Religious elements in literary folklore and folk song traditions in Slovenia;
• Contemporary heritage initiatives grounded in religious practices;
• Ethical dilemmas of the heritagization of religions, including appropriation, inventorying, the secularization of rituals, touristification, commodification, and related issues.

Readings:

• Babič, S. in M. Belak. 2022. Staroverstvo v Sloveniji med religijo in znanostjo. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/9789610506584.
• Boyer, P. 2001. Religion Explained: Religion explained: the evolutionary origins of religious thought. New York: Basic Books.
• Burchardt, M. in Y. Ural (ur.). 2024. The Future of Religious Pasts: Religion and Cultural Heritage-Making in a Secular Age. Cultural Studies 38 (5).
• Coleman, S. in Eade, J. (ur.). Reframing Pilgrimage: Cultures in Motion. London and New York: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780203643693.
• Caputo, John D. 2013. O religiji: Jacquesu Derridaju, ki mi je razvezal jezik. Celje: Celjska Mohorjeva družba: Društvo Mohorjeva družba.
• Di Giovine, A. and Choe, J.2019. Geographies of Religion and Spirituality: Pilgrimage beyond the “Officially” Sacred. Tourism Geographie, 21(3), 361–383.
• Florjančič, A. P. (ur.). 2009. Škofjeloški pasijon 2009: zbornik prispevkov ob uprizoritvi Škofjeloške pasijonske procesije v letu 2009. Škofja Loka: Muzejsko društvo.
• Franceschini, C. (2024). UNESCO, Religious Cultural Heritage and Political Contestation Conflict of Values or Values in Conflict?. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hafstein, Valdimar T. 2018. Making intangible heritage: El Condor Pasa and other stories from UNESCO. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Harrison, R. 2013. Heritage: Critical Approaches. New York: Routledge.
• Jong, F. de in Mapril (ur.) 2023. The Future of Religious Heritage Entangled Temporalities of the Sacred and the Secular.
• Macdonald, S. 2013. Memorylands: Heritage and identity in Europe Today. London, New York: Routledge.
• Smith, L. 2006. Uses of Heritage. New York: Routledge
• L., Akagawa, N. 2009 (ur.). Intangible Heritage. London: Routledge.
• Hemel, E. van den, O. Salemink in I. Steng. 2022. Managing Sacralities: Competing and Converging Claims of Religious Heritage. Berghahn Books.
• Meyer, B. 2020. Religion as Mediation. Entangled Religions 11 (3). DOI: 10.13154/er.11.2020.8444.
• Meyer, B. and de Witte. 2013. M. Heritage and the Sacred: Introduction. Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief 9 (3): 274-280. DOI: 10.2752/175183413X13730330868.
• Stovel, H., N. Stanley-Price in R. Killick (ur.). 2005. Conservation of Living Religious Heritage. Papers from the ICCRoM 2003 forum on Living Religious Heritage: conserving the sacred. Rome: ICCROM, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property.
• Testa, A. 2024. Ritualising cultural heritage and re-enchanting rituals in Europe. Durham (NC): Carolina Academic Press.
• Weir, T. and L. Wijnia (ur.). 2023. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe. Bloomsbury Academic.

Objectives and competences:

Objectives:

• To develop a critical understanding of theoretical and methodological approaches to the heritagization of religions.
• To cultivate the ability for theoretical and epistemological reflection on concepts related to the heritagization of religion.
• To reflect on the ethical and political implications of heritage management of religion in contemporary society.
• To integrate multidisciplinary approaches (ethnology, folklore studies, anthropology, religious studies, ethnomusicology, geography, history, digital humanities, etc.) in the study of the heritagization of religions.
• To acquire the capacity for critical interpretation of case studies from the perspectives of global, local, and transnational dynamics.

Competences

Upon completion, the doctoral student will be able to:

• Formulate original research questions and hypotheses based on theoretical literature.
• Employ advanced qualitative methods (participatory ethnography, autoethnography, sensory methodology, archival-ethnological approaches).
• Conduct a case study investigation.
• Write at an academic level.
• Use appropriate tools for documenting, archiving, and interpreting cases of heritagization.
• Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of theories of (religious) heritagization.
• Engage in interdisciplinary integration across heritage studies, ethnology, and the anthropology of religion, as well as tourism studies and related fields.
• Critically analyse the political and economic dimensions of the heritagization of religion.
• Act ethically in sensitive religious contexts.
• Understand community rights and recognize risks of trivialization, instrumentalization, or representational harm.

Intended learning outcomes:

Doctoral student will:

1. Theoretically, critically, and in-depth explain the key concepts related to the heritagization of religions.
2. Apply ethnographic, analytical, and interpretive approaches in the study of practices of religious heritagization.
3. Conduct a complex and independent research project on a selected case of the heritagization of religion(s).
4. Analyse cases of religious heritagization in an interdisciplinary manner and situate them within global academic debates on heritage, religion, and communities.
5.  Identify and critically address the ethical dilemmas inherent in the heritagization of religions.

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching
• Work in smaller groups or pair work
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation
• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Work with texts
• Case studies
• Different presentation
• Solving exercises
• Field work (e.g. company visits)
• Inviting guests from companies

Assessment:

• Long written assignments 70 %
• Presentations 30 %

Lecturer’s references:

• PISK, Marjeta. 2019. Rokopisne pesmarice – med religioznim in ljudskim. Traditiones 48 (2): 69−95. DOI: 3986/Traditio2019480204.
• PISK, Marjeta. 2023. Folkloristika in kritično preučevanje dediščine = Folkloristics and critical heritage studies. Svetovi 1 (1): 82−96.
• PISK, Marjeta in Rebeka KUNEJ. 2024. Jurjevanje festival from ritual to festival. Český lid 111 (4): 421−440.
• PISK, Marjeta. 2021. Pasijonske pesmi v ljudskem izročilu. Pasijonski doneski 16: 65−87.
• PISK, Marjeta. 2018. Zbirke “mrtvečih pesmi”: iz rokopisnih v tiskane zbirke ali obratno?. V: Perenič, Urška, Bjelčevič, Aleksander (ur.). Starejši mediji slovenske književnosti: rokopisi in tiski. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, 25−32.
• PISK, Marjeta. 2020. Language switching in (folk) songs along the Slovenian-Italian border. Tautosakos darbai 60: 79−93.