Examining the Pedagogy of Community-Based Heritage Work through an International Public History Field Experience

Abstract

This article provides a model for an international community-based public history field experience, with a university student-engagement case study in two Belizean communities. This field experience involved experiential education, interdisciplinary research, and collaboration between American and Belizean university students; public history, cultural anthropology, and archaeology scholars; US and Belizean institutions; and community residents. Resulting products included an exhibit on local cultural heritage and educational materials. I explore the pedagogical and scholarly utility of the field experience to public history by discussing the educational process, project results, and student learning outcomes, highlighting in particular contributions to student training and engaged scholarship.

Cultural Heritage and Methodological Approaches—An Analysis through Initial Training of History Teachers (Spain–England)

“…In this sense, very clear links are identified in Spain between epistemological and innovative methodological conceptions of history and the use of local museums and festivals as a teaching resource, as well as excursions to places of historical interest as a methodological strategy. This is in line with a recent, fast-developing vision which is strongly influenced by international texts in the context of the European Union, such as the Faro Convention, which call for the value of the heritage experience [4,81], as well as the necessary participation and management of people and communities not only in learning but in the actual selection and use of cultural heritage [82]. They also converge with studies that reinforce the need to incorporate the non-formal spheres-fundamentally museums and heritage sites-in the curriculum in areas related to the social sciences, going as far as to consider museums as essential contexts for transforming experiences and the development of identity [83,84].…”

“…The next area to address is the educational center, which has to include the treatment of heritage in the educational project and in the didactic programs through programs of outings, through which students approach the historical past of their own community, connecting with their nearest reality [82]. It is here that information acquires its meaning, with in situ experience being the context in which learning would take place and where attitudes of valuing and preserving the cultural plurality that surrounds the students would be developed [32].…”

El Trabajo De Campo: Una Herramienta Para La Enseñanza Del Patrimonio Y La Historia Local

“…Es preciso destacar en este trabajo investigativo, que la historia local se trabajó de acuerdo a los preceptos didácticos de la enseñanza en general, los cuales identifican la necesidad de tener en cuenta las posibilidades cognitivas del estudiante y trabajar de acuerdo con sus potencialidades y necesidades, lo cual coincide con lo planteado por varios autores al respecto (Jackson, 2008;Stolpe & Björklund, 2012;Vera & Martínez, 2013;McGill, 2018;Hellquist, 2019).…”

“…hipótesis, experimentación, síntesis, análisis e interpretación, evaluación entre otras, necesarias para su formación integral (Apostolopoulou et al, 2014;McGill, 2018;Armiñana, 2020).…”

Making Space for Heritage: Collaboration, Sustainability, and Education in a Creole Community Archaeology Museum in Northern Belize

“…Many of these historic communities, including Crooked Tree, were originally established as logging camps, and most today are comprised of direct descendants of mixed African and European descent. As many young people move to be closer to the highways and cities, the rural Creole communities in the lower Belize River Watershed show signs of dwindling populations, and there is legitimate concern about the loss of cultural heritage [32,33]. Most of the Creole villages noted on the inset map of Figure 1 show diminishing populations, and others have been abandoned all together.…”