Upcoming Events

Save the date:
High-tech Heritage: How Are Digital Technologies Changing Our Views of the Past?

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Center for Heritage and Society is pleased to announce an international conference to be held May 2-4, 2012.
Click here to read more about the conference.

News

Heritage Cluster Search

The University of Massachusetts Amherst seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of History to begin September 1, 2011. This position is part of a cluster in International Heritage Studies that also includes the departments of Anthropology and Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. For more information, click here.

"A Call for a Social Science of the Past"

This fall, the National Science Foundation directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences invited white papers on future research priorities. Elizabeth Chilton, UMass Amherst, and Randall Mason, University of Pennsylvania, were invited to submit a paper, and the two coauthored a paper entitled, "A Call for a Social Science of the Past," which underscored the value of heritage studies as a way of contributing to research on the past. Click here to read their paper, or click here to view other submissions.

New Publication on Intellectual Property co-authored by Jane Anderson

The publication, "Intellectual Property and the Safeguarding of Traditional Cultures: Legal Issues and Practical Options for Museums, Libraries and Archives," was prepared by Jane Anderson and Molly Torsen. The publication contains information for cultural institutions and indigenous and traditional communities whose collections contain traditional cultural expressions, and it provides examples of best practices from around the world. The publication can be downloaded at the WIPO website or by clicking here.

Elizabeth Chilton and Neil Silberman Named Editors of International Heritage Journal

Elizabeth Chilton and Neil Silberman have been named co-editors of the peer-reviewed journal, Heritage & Society, (formerly Heritage Management) published by Left Coast Press. Heritage & Society is an international, peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for scholarly, professional, and community reflection on the cultural, political, and economic impacts of heritage on contemporary society. For more information about the journal, click here.

CHS Conference Highlighted in Special Issue of UNESCO Publication

This special issue of Museum International contains highlights from the conference "Heritage in Conflict and Consensus," organized by the Center for Heritage and Society in November 2009. Click here to read more about this issue.

Heritage Cluster Search

Assistant/Associate Professor of Cultural Heritage Studies in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Click here for more information

Elizabeth Chilton is Interviewed about UMass Heritage Center

Click here to read the article Sweating the small stuff: The UMass Center for Heritage and Society aims to pinpoint intangibles worth saving by Kristin Palpini which appeared on GazetteNET (http://www.gazettenet.com) on February 3, 2010

Past Events

Why Does the Past Matter?

May 4-7, 2011 The University of Massachusetts Amherst Center for Heritage and Society held an international conference from May 4-7, 2011 at the UMass Amherst Campus. View photos from the event here. Read more about the conference here.

Dr. Jane Anderson to Moderate a Panel on Intellectual Property and Social Justice

Dr. Jane Anderson will be moderating a panel as part of the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice's "Intellectual Property Empowerment Summit," taking place at Howard University School of Law on 5 November 2010.
Click here to read more.

Neil Silberman Moderated IIC Istanbul Panel

As part of the annual meeting of the International Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) held Istanbul in September 2010, UMass Amherst Center for Heritage and Society Coordinator of Projects and Policy Initiatives Neil Silberman was invited to moderate and serve as commentator for its distinguished "Dialogues for the New Century" Roundtable.
Read more about the panel here

UMass Announced Cluster Hire in International Heritage Studies

Click here to read more

Heritage Colloquium Speakers

April 13-March 6, 2010

Fabio Grementieri to speak on "Argentine Heritage Culture: The Light Game of Deconstruction."

April 29 at 5:30pm on the second floor of the new Fine Arts Building, UMass Amherst.

Fabio Grementieri is Director of the Preservation Program at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, an adviser to public and private institutions including the Argentine government, the city of Buenos Aires, UNESCO and the World Monuments Fund. He has published several books on Buenos Aires heritage and has lectured widely throughout the Americas and Europe. In 2009 he won the prestigious Henry Hope Reed Award given by the Driehaus Foundation and the University of Notre Dame.

A Talk by Lonnie Bunch III, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture

Thursday, March 25, 2010, at 5:30 p.m., Cape Cod Lounge, Student Union, at UMass Amherst

The W.E.B. Du Bois Center hosted its inaugural symposium on Thursday, March 25, 2010, at 5:30 p.m., Cape Cod Lounge, Student Union, at UMass Amherst. Lonnie G. Bunch, III, Ph.D., spoke on “The Challenge of Building a National Museum.” Dr. Bunch is the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
A prolific and widely published author, Dr. Bunch has written on topics ranging from the black military experience, the American presidency, and all-black towns in the American west to diversity in museum management and the impact of funding and politics on American museums.
Dr. Bunch served as the president of the Chicago Historical Society, held a number of positions at the National Museum of American History, and served as curator of history and program manager for the California Afro-American Museum in Los Angeles.

Marcelo Brodsky and Ilan Stavans Lecture
"Once @ 9:53: Turning Terrorism into a Fotonovela"

Thursday, March 25th, 7 pm Stirn Auditorium, Amherst College

A Public Conversation between Marcelo Brodsky and Ilan Stavans sponsored by the Lamont and Lurcy Funds and the Department of Spanish at Amherst College, and the Architecture+Design Program and the Center for Heritage and Society at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Click here to download a flyer

Marcelo Brodsky and Ilan Stavans Lecture
"The Memory Park and ESMA: Preserving and Remembering State Terrorism"

Friday, March 26th, 12 pm Fine Arts Center, Room 353 UMass

A lunchtime seminar sponsored by the Lamont and Lurcy Funds and the Department of Spanish at Amherst College, and the Architecture+Design Program and the Center for Heritage and Society at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Limited seating, free and open to the public. For more information call (413) 542-2317 or email mpage@art.umass.edu or istavans@amherst.edu
Click here to download a flyer

Professor Mindy Fullilove - CHS Colloquium Series

February 16, 2010 at 5:30pm in the Thompson Center room 102, UMass Amherst

Professor Mindy Fullilove, Columbia University, spoke on "Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It"
Click here to download a flyer

"[murmur] on Main Street: Multimedia Community-Based Research on Cities"

A brown-bag lunch discussion was held with Prof. Mindy Fullilove, MD (Columbia University School of Medicine) and Molly Rose Kaufman (project coordinator, [murmur] Orange)
Tuesday, February 16 from 12-1 pm Thompson Hall 620 UMass campus
Click here to read more

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

American Anthropological Association Presidential Session
December 2, 2009, 4:00-7:45pm, Liberty Ballroom A, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia Marriot

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

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.

Click here to read more about the highlights

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, 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)