Workshop: "Heritage in Conflict and Consensus"
Bringing together for the first time historians, archaeologists, and heritage experts from some of the world’s political and cultural hotspots, the newly established UMass Amherst Center for Heritage and Society will host an unprecedented international gathering on November 9-10. Participants will include representatives of projects in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan; India and Southeast Asia; the European Union; African American and Native American communities of Canada and the United States—all scenes of sometimes bitter conflicts over the right to possess and interpret archaeological and human remains.
The workshop, entitled “Heritage in Conflict and Consensus,” is aimed at creating a platform for discussion of some of today’s most contentious issues: Who has the historical right to Jerusalem? How should South African history be seen in the post-Apartheid era? Can ancient religious shrines have more than one owner? Can the memories of the “troubles” in Northern Ireland be resolved through a new approach to public heritage? Are Afghanistan and Iraq battlefields of both present and past? How can 21st century refugees and immigrants celebrate their home cultures in their often hostile adopted lands?
A wide range of international organizations will be sending official representatives to this meeting on the UMass campus, including UNESCO, ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites), and the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. The workshop is made possible by a Research Leadership in Action Grant from UMass Amherst. Co-sponsoring institutions are wide-ranging and include the Institute for Advanced Theology at Bard College, the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, the U.S. Park Service, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Brothertown Indian Nation of Wisconsin.
“We are seeking ways to bring people together by seeing the world’s heritage monuments and archaeological sites as part of a shared past—even in places of modern conflict,” noted Professor Elizabeth Chilton, director of the Center and chair of the UMass Department of Anthropology. Her goal for the workshop is to establish an international working group composed of workshop participants. “We need to move from conflict to consensus about the importance of cultural heritage—and create educational tools to make that possible.”
The workshop is the first major public activity of the Center for Heritage and Society (a research center in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences) which brings together the expertise of scholars and specialists in the study of how the commemoration of the past affects modern societies and contemporary identities.
Featured speakers include Gustavo Araoz (President, International Council on Monuments and Sites); Karel Bakker (University of Pretoria, South Africa); Michael Blakey (College of William and Mary, USA); Bruce Chilton (Bard College, USA); Laia Colomer (Barcelona History Museum, Spain); Brian Daniels (Penn Center for Cultural Heritage, USA); Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper (Technical University of Berlin, Germany); Amareswar Galla (University of Queensland, Australia); Brendan Griebel (University of Toronto, Canada); Cornelius Holtorf (Kalmar University, Sweden); Richard Leventhal (University of Pennsylvania, USA); Dorothy Lippert (Smithsonian Institution, USA); Michael Atwood Mason (Smithsonian Institution, USA); Andreas Pantazatos (University of Durham, UK); Max Polonovski (Ministry of Culture, France); Friedrich Schipper (University of Vienna, Austria); Liz Sevcenko (International Coalition of Sites of Conscience); Isabelle Vinson (UNESCO); and Elizabeth Ya'ari (PUSH for Peace, Israel-Palestine-Jordan).
In addition to the invited international speakers, participants from a number of US universities and museums are expected to attend. They will join in the drafting of a concluding text that will establish principles for mediation in heritage conflict zones around the world.
For more information on the workshop and its invited international participants, visit the Center website at www.umass.edu/chs or contact the UMass News office at (413) 545-0444.