Gustav Wollentz

I am an archaeologist with a particular focus on critical heritage studies. I defended my PhD dissertation in 2018 at Kiel University in Germany on the subject of difficult heritage. Thereafter, I worked as a project leader, researcher and director at the Nordic Centre of Heritage Learning and Creativity (NCK) in Östersund, Sweden, where questions concerning learning and pedagogy in the heritage sector were central. Since February 2024, I have been working as a senior lecturer at Linnaeus University.

Teaching

I am the program coordinator for the three-year program "Cultural Heritage in the Present and Future".  

At Linnaeus University, I have been coordinating the following courses:

At the undergraduate level:

Working with Cultural Heritage - an introduction, 15 credits

Cultural Policy - Possibilities and Limits, 7.5 credits

Cultural Heritage, Entrepreneurship and Projects, 15 credits

The Swedish Landscape: temporal and spatial perspectives, 7.5 credits  

Library and Information Ethics I: Professional Ethics, 7.5 credits

At the advanced level:

Theoretical Perspectives on the Digitalization of Archaeology and Museums, 7.5 credits

I have also taught in several other courses and supervised bachelor's theses in archaeology and other subjects.
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Research

My research is broad but mainly belongs in the field of critical heritage studies. I did my PhD dissertation on difficult heritage, where I conducted field work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Sweden, examining questions concerning memory, identity, time and place in relation to difficult heritage.

After my PhD thesis, I have mainly been focusng on three areas:

1). Heritage futures, with a focus on how the heritage sector can become more future-conscious and how the future is already present in shaping different types of heritage. In connection to this, I have worked with ICCROM where we applied tools from Strategic Foresight to anticipate different types of futures for the heritage sector on a global level.

2). Cultural heritage and learning, with a focus on heritage pedagogy, co-creation, learning through social spaces, and digital tools for learning and participation.

3). Cultural heritage and diversity, with a focus on how the heritage sector can become better at being relevant in an increasingly diverse present and future, where traditional approaches to what cultural heritage is tend to be exclusionary. Questions concerning the concept of belonging and the role that heritage can play in creating a sense of home are essential here.