London Heritage: Walking the City, Writing the Past

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The city of London is a palimpsest, a place of many layers of time, archaeology and history. As an international global tourist venue London heritage is rich and textured with tales of events and stories of the many people who have dwelt within the ever changing fabric of the architecture and landscape of the urbanscape. Our engagement with the city as heritage will be the lens through which we might understand the complexities of human realities and how we can compassionately respond to them. This will include fieldtrips to museums, archives, galleries, the Thames foreshore, places of ritual as well as the quotidian heritage of the wonderfully evocative everyday life of past London inhabitants. Our coverage also includes contemporary resonances such as the current trend for the removal of statues and the politics of contemporary art installations. With research methods and writing techniques embedded into the course, our coverage will include discussion, debate, presentations, individual and small group work, critical thinking and lively conversation.