Master of Arts in Heritage

Purpose

The purpose of the qualification is to produce a graduate who is capable of sophisticated and resourceful thinking, knowledge building, leadership, policy- and decision-making in the context of heritage practice.

The qualifying learner will be able to

• Link intertextual and intersectional approaches to theory and practice.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the concept of heritage and its critical study.
• Be critical thinking around public memory, its bureaucratization, processes of monumentalisation and their attendant politics towards a mastery of the current and historical debates around public representations of history.

Rationale

The emphasis on critical engagement that is fostered through this degree is vital for a growing community of young professionals who are skilled enough to be able to take on the challenges of the persistent legacies of inequality that our society still faces. Expanding the notion of visual arts and heritage practices, the programmes explore modalities that traverse and go beyond the parameters of public history-making and theory. The qualification aims to develop learners who think with and beyond art.

The qualification also seeks to enhance the career of the postgraduate by preparing him/her for professional leadership in the heritage sector and /or further doctoral study. Further, the qualification will produce postgraduates who can contribute to the economy of South Africa by conducting appropriate research or working in the heritage sector.

Learners explore the role of heritage in contemporary societies and the ways in which its study can lead to and inform social action. The qualification is a platform from which to think critically about decolonial methods of teaching that stress the importance of learning from multiple sites of knowledge.

Recognition of Prior Learning

The institution has an approved Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy which is applicable with regards to equivalent qualifications for admission into the qualification. RPL will be applied to accommodate applicants who qualify. RPL thus provides alternative access and admission to qualifications, as well as advancement within qualifications. RPL may be applied for access, credits from modules and credits for or towards the qualification.

RPL for access

• Learners who do not meet the minimum entrance requirements or the required qualification that is at the same NQF level as the qualification required for admission may be considered for admission through RPL.
• To be considered for admission in the qualification based on RPL, applicants should provide evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates that they have acquired the relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies through formal, non-formal and/or informal learning to cope with the qualification expectations should they be allowed entrance into the qualification.

RPL for exemption of modules

• Learners may apply for RPL to be exempted for modules that form part of the qualification. For a learner to be exempted from a module, the learner needs to provide sufficient evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates that competency was achieved for the learning outcomes that are equivalent to the learning outcomes of the module.

RPL for credit

• Learners may also apply for RPL for credit for or towards the qualification, in which they must provide evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates prior learning through formal, non-formal and/or informal learning to obtain credits towards the qualification.
• Credit shall be appropriate to the context in which it is awarded and accepted.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• Bachelor of Arts Honours or equivalent, NQF Level 8.

This qualification consists of the following compulsory and elective modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 9 totalling 180 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 9, 120Credits

• Public Culture, 30 Credits.
• Research Report, 90 Credits.

Elective Modules, Level 9, 60 Credits (Select two modules)

• Culture Resource Management, 30 Credits.
• Archaeology and the Environment, 30 Credits.
• Language and Culture, 30 Credits.
• Orality, Literacy and Readership, 30 Credits.
• Traditional Literature, 30 Credits.
• 20th Century Black Intellectual History, 30 Credits.
• Imagining Public Culture and History in Southern Africa, 30 Credits.
• Sentiment, Sensation and Feeling, 30 Credits.
• African Ethnography, 30 Credits.
• Theories of Culture, 30 Credits.
• Film Studies: Representations of Identity, 30 Credits.
• The Role of Public History and Heritage in Education, 30 Credits.
• Heritage Education in Practice, 30 Credits.
• Visual Literacy and the Role of Media in Education, 30 Credits.
• The Constructions of Contemporary South African Art, 30 Credits.
• Tourism and Development, 30 Credits.
• Geographic Information Systems, 30 Credits.
• Soil Erosion and Conservation, 30 Credits.
• The Urban Experience of Johannesburg, 30 Credits.
• Integrated Environmental Management/ Environmental Impact Assessment, 30 Credits.
• Collections Management, 30 Credits.
• African Art History, 30 Credits.
• Postcolonial Art History, 30 Credits.
• Representations and Re-presentations in History, 30 Credits.
• Capitalism and the South African Countryside, 30 Credits.
• The Making of the South African Working Class, 30 Credits.
• Locus of Paradoxes Mythical Past, Lost Present and Marginalised Space, 30 Credits
• Environmental Sociology, 30 Credits
• The Demography of So30 Credits uthern Africa, 30 Credits.
• The Making of the South African Social Order, 30 Credits.
• The South African City, 30 Credits.
• Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 30 Credits.
• The History and Politics of Identity in Pre-colonial South Africa, 30 Credits.
• Curating Exhibitions: The Politics and Aesthetics of Display, 30 Credits.
• Archives: Theory and Practice, 30 Credits.
• Selected Topic in Heritage, 30 Credits.
• Creativity, Culture and the Economy, 30 Credits.
• Digital Humanities, 30 Credits.

1. Possess the full range of terminology and key concepts in generic and specialised heritage fields in South African and international literature; primary and secondary research resources, materials, and methodologies
2. Develop extensive in-depth meta-cognitive understanding of one's own position in relation to debate within a text.
3. Possess a sophisticated understanding of generic, academic, oral and written conventions for heritage and understand current debates and research findings required for the research report.
4. Demonstrate critical analytic competence and problem-solving.
5. Possess advanced knowledge of research methods and their applications
6. Apply an in-depth understanding of relevant literature.
7. Show competence to manage her/himself and know the importance of individual responsibility in generating ideas for and executing a research study.
8. Demonstrate social competence and know when to seek academic interaction with others in order to test own ideas or to gain stimulation.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 1

• Develop a sophisticated selection of search strategies for appropriate databases and information resources
• Demonstrate sophisticated critical evaluation of different kinds of data and texts
• Articulate own position within debates.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 2

• Use appropriate conventions and representational technologies to sustain cogent arguments
• Present effectively ideas and theories from generic and specialised heritage information
• Translate information into situation specific language.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 3

• Develop and critically examine innovative approaches
• Integrate information, theory and context to further knowledge
• Critically evaluate limitations of different theoretical models and suggests alternatives.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 4

• Design, execute and write-up a scholarly research report that contributes to the advancement of knowledge.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 5

• Purposeful, self-directed, resourceful scholar and researcher
• Illustrate the capacity to become a mentor/tutor in developing scholarly knowledge and skills in others
• Display the capacity to balance and manage a range of commitments/life tasks.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 6

• Illustrate independence, initiative, creativity, purposefulness and leadership in professional relationships.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 7

• Show advanced ability to plan, execute and evaluate social research within an ecosystemic paradigm.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes 8

• Indicate mastery of the methods of scholarly research as they apply to the research report and the profession.

INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT

Research reports or dissertations serve as the medium for integrated formative and summative assessment.

Formative assessment is undertaken on a continuous basis, incorporating seminar presentations and papers, coursework assignments and tasks, as well as reports on research plans. Such methods assess learners' progress towards the professional and academic competencies set out in the exit level outcomes listed above.

The summative assessment instruments are designed to integrate practical, theoretical and reflexive competence in research. These assessment practices, aligned with intended learning outcomes, will take diverse forms, including inter alia, diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment.

In order to promote, monitor and measure learner learning throughout a course, no single assessment may count for more than 40% of the final mark unless there are special circumstances, in which case the permission of the Dean is required.