Certificate in Heritage Studies

The Certificate in Heritage Studies (CHS) affords students an added dimension to their undergraduate degree, exposing them to professional settings and ways of applying historical knowledge through experiential, community-engaged and work-integrated learning. The purpose of the certificate is to provide students with theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the heritage sector.

Upon completion, students will benefit from a certificate that will accompany their degree and illustrate their added knowledge, skills, and experience to potential employers and institutions. The Certificate in Heritage Studies is open to all Dalhousie and King’s undergraduate students.

Learning Objectives:

Students will:

  • learn how the heritage sector/heritage institutions function
  • learn how historical knowledge and perspectives can be communicated to various audiences
  • learn how historical knowledge can engage the community and be beneficial to groups, organizations, and institutions beyond academia
  • develop an understanding of ethical and other critical issues associated with heritage projects and the practice of public history
  • demonstrate project-management and team-work skills

Certificate Requirements:

The CHS is a 12-credit hour certificate, comprised of course work and an institution-focused project. Students must have completed their first year of university (or 30 credit hours) and be in good academic standing, with an average of B or better, to enroll in the certificate program.

Requirements:

  • HIST 2950.03, Introduction to Heritage Studies and Public Humanities
  • Six additional credit hours from a list of approved electives (see below) to provide additional historical context and/or theoretical engagement with public uses of history and heritage, to prepare students to make best use of the capstone experience in HIST 4710.
  • HIST 4710.03, Heritage Studies: Capstone. This will be a final, three credit hours seminar, typically taken in the Fall semester of students’ final year, giving them an opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge gathered from the program to an institution-focused project. Each student will develop a project that will draw on the resources of a particular local institution (e.g., Pier 21, Nova Scotia Museum sites, Dalhousie Archives, etc.), with the guidance of the course facilitator.

Electives:

History:

  • HIST 2205 - Historical Issues in Indigenous Studies
  • HIST 2210 - Many Canadas: Canada, 1930 to the present  
  • HIST 2235 - History of Canadian Culture
  • HIST 2272 - Atlantic Canada since Confederation: Regionalism, Identity, and Development
  • HIST 2280 - African Nova Scotian History
  • HIST 2900 - Ways of Seeing: An Introduction to Art History & Visual Culture
  • HIST 3210 - Canadian Cultural Landscapes  
  • HIST 3215 - Indigenous Textiles in Canada: Tourism, Industry, Identity
  • HIST 3274 - Nova Scotia: Post-Confederation  
  • HIST 3282 - Public History
  • HIST 3302 - Technology and History in North America
  • HIST 4250 - Popular Culture in the Atlantic World, 1650-1850
  • HIST 4162/THEA4360/MUSC 4360 - Advanced Seminar in Baroque Culture [taught at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the State Castle in Cesky Krumlov]
  • HIST 4210 - Museums, Archives, and Material Culture

Indigenous Studies:           

  • INDG 3050 - Indigenous Research Methodologies and Knowledge Practices
  • INDG 3401 - Indigenous Representation in Film

Political Science:

  • POLI 2215 - Canadian Aboriginal Politics: An Institutional Perspective  

English:

  • ENGL 2006 - Cultural Studies

Contemporary Studies Programme:

  • CTMP 2316 - The “Pictorial Turn” in Recent Thought, Art and Theory
  • CTMP 3322 - Representations of the Holocaust: Remembrance

Canadian Studies Program:

  • CANA 2002 - The Idea of Canada: Cultural and Literary Perspectives

Sociology and Social Anthropology:  

  • SOSA 2052 - Contemporary Issues in Indigenous Studies
  • SOSA 2111 - Is there an Atlantic Canada? 
  • SOSA 2115 - African Canadian Society, Culture, and Resistance  
  • SOSA 2191 - Gender Across Cultures
  • SOSA 3015 - Popular Memory  
  • SOSA 3185 - Issues in the Study of Indigenous Peoples of North America 
  • SOSA 3284 - Living in Cities