International Conference on the Economic Impact of Cultural Heritage Being Held May 15-17 at UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – Delegates from around the world will be participating in “The Past for Sale? New Perspectives on the Economic Entanglements of Cultural Heritage,” a conference being hosted May 15-17 by the Center for Heritage and Society at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

 

The conference garnered 120 abstracts from participants representing 30 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Panama, Syria and Zimbabwe. The goal of the conference, according to the center’s director, Elizabeth Chilton, is to bring together a wide range of academics, government officials, community officials and others interested in examining the economic impact of cultural heritage. Presenters and participants will question both the monetary or social values that heritage has in the 21st century. Some of the themes to be explored in the conference include tourism, urban revitalization, archaeological looting and its costs, and the business of ancient art.

 

Plenary speakers include Gregory Ashworth, professor of heritage management and urban tourism at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, Françoise Benhamou, professor at Sciences Po Paris, Neil Brodie, senior research fellow at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow,  and J.P. Singh, professor of global affairs and cultural studies at George Mason.

 

In addition to plenary speakers, the conference consists of more than 15 sessions, each of which will address main conference themes and include paper presentations by several heritage scholars.

 

Conference sessions will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15, and will continue from 8:30 a.m. through 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 16. The conference will end with a full day of sessions and a closing plenary and reception running from 8:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16. Interested individuals can register on site the day of the conference for an additional fee. Discounted registration is available for students.

 

The UMass Amherst Center for Heritage and Society is a multidisciplinary initiative to craft new approaches to heritage conversation and communication, while also offering research opportunities for scholars working in heritage-related fields. For more information on CHS, to register for the conference, or to view the preliminary conference program, visit www.umass.edu/chs.