9.22.2009

Niel Silberman of UMass Amherst lectures on "Heritage in Conflict and Consensus" 7 October 2009

Neil Silberman will present a lecture on Heritage in Conflict and Consensus: New Approaches to the Social, Political, and Religious Impact at the D.F. Pray Foundation Lecture Theater, Arch 132, at 6PM. His lecture is sponsored by the Historic Preservation Endowed Events Fund.

Mr Silberman maintains that as we are working in an increasingly multicultural environment, we must be able to cope more effectively with contested heritage. Mr Silberman will consider the role of interpretation and the processes of management, presentation, and heritage commemoration as a public means of reflection about the contemporary cultural significance of tangible and intangible heritage and the many diverse modern identities that are based on it.

Mr Silberman is Coordinator of Projects and Policy Initiatives, Center for Heritage and Society, University of Massachusetts – Amherst. He returned to the US in 2007 after serving as Director of the Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation in Belgium. Mr Silberman serves as president of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation.

Silberman is co-organizer of a November 9-13 international workshop addressing this subject. The public portion will take place at UMass Amherst, Massachusetts, November 9-10. A roundtable for invited participants will be held at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York on November 12-13.