Education and cultural heritage: crossroads in public heritage policies

Abstract

This article presents a critical analysis of education in Iphan’s (Historical and Artistic National Heritage Institute) trajectory from 1937 to 2014. Educational activities were developed and offered since its founding, even though under diverse and heterogeneous conceptions, functions and forms through time. The study of the functions of education in national heritage policies will be pursued in order to comprehend how the State used to understand and relate with society to protect cultural assets. Heritage education emerged in the mid-1980s as a pedagogical methodology focused on monuments and museographic objects. Today, it is possible to observe a dialogical, transversal and collective conception of heritage education emerging, one that intents to bring the cultural heritage field closer to society. Therefore, it is necessary to know this trajectory so we can follow in a discerning way how IPHAN practices education and so we can strengthen cultural heritage as a political instrument and a social right.