| Description |
Coming from a formerly colonized and currently developing country like the Philippines, advancing cultural heritage education becomes imperative. Cultural heritage education potentially stems the negative impact of globalization on culture. It can also dismantle the framework of neocolonialism in formerly colonized states whose educational systems were established by colonizers. While these promises of what cultural heritage education can do are easily identified, crafting a higher education degree program in cultural heritage, especially intangible cultural heritage, has many ramifications. This paper problematizes the challenges in the development and institution of a higher education degree program in intangible cultural heritage. Specifically this paper will attempt to raise and discuss issues that (may) surface in the development and institution a higher education degree program in intangible cultural heritage in the light of current higher education systems, practices and processes using primarily the context of the Philippines as a developing country. National higher education policies, program structure and content, pedagogy as well resources for teaching, and career prospects and employability are the areas which shall be problematized in this discussion. While the discussion is primarily on the context of the Philippines, the discussion can possibly have reverberations in developing countries. |
