Cultural Heritage and Cultural Relationships

The course aims to deal with the topic of cultural relationships, according to the study of material culture in its wider meaning. This will be possible through a closer relation with earth and environmental sciences. The teacher will propose some base topics. Then, he will propose a specific subject (urban development). This will be analyzed according to different perspectives. The contribute of other teachers joining the COIL teaching module (Collaborative Online International Learning) will be crucial. They will add different, non-archaeological points of view. This will allow the students of three classes (Siena, Akita International University in Japan, State University of New York – Farmingdale and Free State University di Bloemfontein in South Africa.) to relate one another. They will work together and they will provide final reports. The course aims to reach two goals. The first one deals with the content of the lectures, the second one with the teaching method. Nonetheless, they are closely related. The first one aims to show that archaeology can give hints to study cultural relations of past societies, mainly in regions of political crisis. The second one aims to let the students be used to relate with other students coming from different backgrounds and cultures and studying different disciplines. The COIL module allows and encourages students to challenge themselves and to open their minds to different perspectives.