Academic Programs: MPhil

MPHIL IN CULTURAL TOURISM AND HERITAGE STUDIES (Two years – Structured) 897

This programme is offered jointly by the Departments of History, Geography and Drama. It is a two year program, following after a BA (any major) and allows for a BPhil exit after one year.  The programme runs for two years full time.

Admission requirements

Any BA major.  Written applications, including a complete study record, must normally be submitted before November 30 of each year. Formal application for registration is only necessary once a student has been accepted for a programme.

Program content and composition

The focus is on the points of contact between tourism, cultural heritage and history as representation of the past. The spatial and temporal perspectives of geography as well as its regionally descriptive and synthesising elements (as embodied in GIS applications) have also been incorporated, as has Drama’s systemic investigation of the arts in South Africa. The emphasis falls on the synergy between these approaches. The products of a heritage do not emerge in a vacuum and neither can a heritage simply be accepted at face value. Consequently the vision that directs the envisaged programme is to provide an academic foundation for a study of the processes that lead to the emergence of a heritage as well as the ways in which that heritage manifests itself in the context of tourism. All the modules have been newly created.  It consists of 6 compulsory modules and an extensive assignment based on research. After one year, upon completion of the first four modules the candidate can exit the programme with a BPhil degree.

Modules

1. Tourism as a phenomenon.
2. The production and commodification of a historical heritage.
3. Spectacles, festivals and the arts system as elements of cultural tourism.
4. The socio-cultural and environmental impact of tourism.
5. Cultural sources and regional tourism.
6. Museums, architectural styles and conservation policy