Why Does the Past Matter? Towards a Social Science of the Past - A talk by Elizabeth Chilton February 7, 2012

The study of the past has long been relegated to the historiographical disciplines, e.g., archaeology and history. These fields will always be at the core of a contemporary study of the past. However, in this increasingly globalized contemporary world there is a growing need for the burgeoning field of “heritage studies”—the interdisciplinary, social scientific study of the past. What is the value of the past in contemporary society? How do we measure the value of heritage for such important societal issues as social cohesion and economic development? Answering these questions will involve expertise not only in archaeology and history, but also sociology, economics, public health, urban planning, and legal studies.

Elizabeth Chilton is a professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Heritage and Society at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include the archaeology of Northeast North America, hunter-gatherers, the origins of agriculture, ceramic ecology, geoarchaeology, and cultural resource management. Among other works, she is the author of The Goat Island Rockshelter: New Light from Old Legacies (1994), and the editor of Nantucket and Other Native Places (with Mary Lynne Rainey, 2010) and Material Meanings: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Material Culture (1999). Her current project is entitled Tides of Change in Native New England: 10,000 B C. to A.D. 1700.

Organized by the Teaching Heritage collaborative of the University of Minnesota's Institute for Advanced Study.

Official Website: http://www.ias.umn.edu/collabs11-12/TeachingHeritage.php