Upcoming Events

Heritage as Applied Anthropology: Setting the Agenda for the 21st

Elizabeth Chilton and Neil Silberman will be organizing this AAA session, with Elizabeth Chilton, Angela Labrador and Heidi Bauer-Clapp as chairs.

Past Events

Heritage in Conflict and Consensus: New Approaches to the Social, Political, and Religious Impact of Public Heritage in the 21st Century, An International Workshop

November 9-13, 2009
UMass Amherst, MA, and Bard College at Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

This five-day workshop offered global perspectives on selected themes of Heritage in Conflict and began to develop a long-term working group to formulate research and policy agendas for the future. Participants included specialists in historic preservation, architecture, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, conflict resolution, public history, and heritage management as well as leaders and representatives of affected communities from Europe, the Americas, South Africa, and the Middle East.

Co-sponsored by The Institute for Advanced Theology, Bard College and the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, and with the support of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, The Archaeological Institute of America, The Brothertown Indian Nation, and UNESCO Museum International.

Read more about the preliminary program here.

CHS Received Research Leadership in Action Grant

The Center for Heritage and Society recently was awarded a $20,000 Research Leadership in Action Grant from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to host a fall workshop entitled, "Heritage Conflict and Consensus: New Approaches to the Social, Political, and Economic Roles of Public Heritage in the 21st Century." The workshop, took place on the UMass Amherst campus in November 2009, and offered a global perspective on the issue of Heritage in Conflict and the methods and approaches needed to address it. Participants included specialists in historic preservation, architecture, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, conflict resolution, economics, international development, museum studies, public history, and heritage management as well as community leaders and representatives of affected communities.

Neil Silberman gave keynote address at heritage workshop in China

September 26-29, 2009
Dunhuang, China

Neil Silberman, coordinator of Projects and Policy Initiatives of the Center for Heritage and Society and lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, was invited to give a keynote presentation at the international workshop: Advancing Sustainable Tourism at Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites at the Mogao Caves World Heritage site, Dunhuang, China, from 26 to 29 September 2009. This workshop is sponsored by the Australian Government, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Tourism Working Group, and the Dunhuang Academy. It is the culmination of recent international initiatives relating to sustainable tourism and aims to achieve formal recognition of the opportunities and challenges presented by tourism by utilizing the mechanisms in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.

Gustavo Araoz, President of ICOMOS

May 5, 2009
UMass Amherst

Gustavo Araoz, President of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) “New Directions in the Work of ICOMOS: World Heritage and Global Society in the 21st Century” Tuesday, May 5 @ 7 PM, SOM 137 (UMass Amherst Campus)