INSTITUTIONAL
Courses
Master’s degree
The Graduate Program in Museology has the mission of producing knowledge in the field of Museology and Heritage, and train professionals at an advanced level to work in universities, institutes, state bodies, museums, among others that present a role of leadership and a proactive approach in the preservation, investigation and management of the integral heritage in its cultural and environmental dimensions, able to promote actions of safeguarding, research, communication and appropriation of cultural goods (material and non-material references), with a view to the social transformation and the construction of citizenship.
The overall aim of the Program will be to train professionals at the Master’s level to become agents of reflection of contemporary Museology in a multidisciplinary perspective, from the study, analysis, criticism and acting in institutions and spaces of society where the performance of function of museological character is necessary. The graduate of the Program will be a professional of advanced level, aware of the profound relationship of the human being (subject) to the cultural good (object) and the value that the theories and paradigms of science have to the development and preservation of the heritage built by societies; capable of intervening and interacting critically and creatively in social contexts, in the defense of the ethical ideals of respect of life, diversity, environmental and cultural heritage, and equality of rights; able to act as manager and executor of policies related to Museology; act in the process of musealization through documentation, research, conservation, and socialization, aiming at the production of knowledge.
The Graduate Program Museology and Heritage is structured around two fields that name the same: Museology and Heritage, embodied in two Lines of Research that manifest the different thematic, theoretical and methodological cuts on the basis of which the professors and researchers of the Program organize their work. It is through them that candidates can plead their entry into the Program.
History of the Course
Since the 1990s, in Brazil, the concern with the offer of latu sensu graduate courses in the area of Museology and Heritage has intensified among museum professionals. Rio Grande do Sul was part of this movement, led by educational institutions and museum professionals, based on the observation of the situation of extreme lack of specialized human resources in the area to properly manage the collections of government museums.
Among the various courses implemented in the state, the training offered by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, the Institute of Arts and the Faculty of Architecture were highlighted. None of these two courses, however, advanced towards the consolidation of the creation of stricto sensu trainings.
Since 2003, the context related to training in Museology in Brazil has changed profoundly with the creation of more than a dozen undergraduate courses in different states of the country, as well as the implementation of four graduate programs, located in the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Bahia and Piauí.
With the implementation, in 2008, and consolidation, in 2015, of the Undergraduate Course in Museology at the Faculty of Library Science and Communication and the gradual configuration of a faculty in the field, the desire to also implement graduate studies at UFRGS is reborn among professors.
Thus, in mid-2015, a group of his professors began the discussion and studies necessary to elaborate the project of creation of the Graduate Program in Museology and Heritage. At the end of February 2016, began the proceedings at the University for the process to offer the Academic Master in Museology and Heritage, which, once approved in May 2016, was sent to CAPES, that, in January 2017, accredited it under the national graduate system.
Hence, the Graduate Program in Museology and Heritage (PPGMusPa), rises with the mission of producing knowledge in the field of Museology and Heritage, training professionals of advanced level to work in universities, institutes, state bodies, museums, among others, with a role of leadership and a proactive approach in the preservation, investigation and management of the integral heritage, in its environmental and cultural dimensions, capable of promoting actions of safeguarding, research, communication and appropriation of cultural goods, in their material and non-material references, with a view to social transformation and the construction of citizenship.
The overall aim of the Graduate Program in Museology and Heritage is to train professionals at the Master’s level who become agents of reflection of contemporary Museology in a multidisciplinary perspective, from the study, analysis, criticism and acting in institutions and spaces of society where the performance of museological function is necessary. To this end, the training of the master in Museology and Heritage presupposes the mastery of the contents of these fields and the preparation to face with proficiency and creativity the problems of their professional practice, especially those that require interventions in museums, documentation or information centers, cultural centers, services or information networks, cultural heritage management bodies.
The profile of the graduate of the program was designed to unite the position of an advanced professional aware of the deep relationship of the human being (subject) with the cultural good (object) with the value that theories and paradigms of science have for the development and preservation of the heritage built by societies. A professional able to intervene and interact critically and creatively in social contexts, in the defense of ethical ideals of respect for life, diversity, environmental and cultural heritage and equal rights; to act as manager and executor of policies related to Museology; to act in the process of musealization, through documentation, research, conservation, socialization, aiming at the production of knowledge.
The Graduate Program in Museology and Heritage, also stands in the perspective of articulation with the Brazilian museological and heritage institutions and the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in particular, in the sense of qualification of museological management processes that involve a broad operating chain (conservation, documentation, communication, education, research). And, also, in the articulation with the countries of Latin America, in view of the privileged location of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as with other countries, on a global scale, through the extension and research projects of its professors and students.
Area of concentration
Museology and Heritage
Heritage and museums are complex phenomena and processes, fruits of humanity’s relations with the planet, its cultures and its memories. They are mediators between subjects and spaces, objects, images, actions and knowledge, elevated to a special status and subjected to regimes concerning the preservation, production of knowledge and the construction of alternatives for sustainable development. The idea of heritage conservation for transmission to future generations accompanies societies throughout history. And, although the notion of heritage as an instituting act of preservation by the government and by associations has been consolidated in modernity, from the second half of the twentieth century there has been an explosion on a global scale of processes of patrimonialization and musealization. The patrimony, thus, is characterized by legal prerogatives in the context of public policies. On the other hand, it is recognized by social and cultural processes that mobilize subjects and groups for the conservation of past traits. Patrimony is constituted in the field of disputes of material and symbolic order around representations and practices concerning cultural and natural goods. In the patrimonial issue, different agents come into conflict by the definition and enjoyment of the patrimony, where are at stake representations about the past; economic interests related to property; urban problems; environmental issues; the maintenance of cultural diversity; among many others. Thereby, investigating heritage in an academic context means operating a shift from the look of the heritage object – that is, from a set of assets aimed at identifying certain cultures, cities, countries and regions, to the relations between subjects and these with their culture, environment and memory. To investigate heritage is to understand the genealogy of concepts that divide culture into operational categories, such as material and non-material heritage; cultural heritage; genetic heritage; environmental heritage; architectural heritage; archaeological heritage; artistic heritage; urban heritage, among others. Public museums emerge as a scenario to house the patrimony and the conserved collections, for the purpose of study, construction of knowledge and pedagogical instrument of the government. In turn, the epistemological constitution of Museology is late in relation to the rise of museological institutions, whose agents put into action different methodological procedures derived from an operating chain that involves conservation, research and communication. On the other hand, the debate on the definition of Museology as a science opens up into two basic assumptions: a principle identifier of the specific features and autonomy in relation to other fields of knowledge; and the other, that is deeply connected to the studies of the other disciplines with which Museology is in dialogue, as those that are at the root of many museums, such as History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Sociology, the Arts, and the Sciences, or as those with which it shares certain methodological procedures, such as Library and Archival Sciences; or all those to which the multiplicity of possible museological typologies is linked. Thus, through multiple disciplinary approaches, Heritage and Museology are investigated, on the one hand, in the problematization of concepts, representations and practices built over time; and, on the other, in the examination of methodological procedures with a view to their application in different situations and contexts.
Curricular Structure of the Course
The curricular organization of the Master establishes the requirement of integration of 24 credits, distributed in the following disciplines: –
Two Mandatory Advanced Seminars (SAOB) linked to the two lines of research (8 credits);
– Four Seminars of Research Orientation (SOP) with 2 credits each (8 credits);
– Elective Advanced Seminars (SAE) of student choice (8 credits).
Equip
Commissions
- Graduate Commission
- Holders:
- Professor Dr. Vanessa Barrozo Teixeira Aquino (Coordenadora)
- Professor Dr. Ana Celina Figueira da Silva (Coordenadora Substituta)
- Professor Dr. Fernanda Rechemberg
- Professor Dr. Olívia Silva Nery
- Professor Dr. Luisa Durán Rocca
- Professor Dr. Ana Carolina Gelmini de Faria
Administrative Staff
- Joseane Lima