"The Past for Sale? The Economic Entanglements of Cultural Heritage" 

--Call for Papers

The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Center for Heritage and Society
May 15-17, 2013

The economic valuation of cultural heritage - whether protected and
developed or illegally looted and exported - is among the most pressing
practical research questions in the fields of both Cultural Heritage
Studies and Community Development. What price in dollars or social value
does heritage have in the 21st century? How is heritage marketed and sold
in an era of rampant globalization and neoliberalism?

On the one hand, nations, regions, cities, and even small towns are
investing significant public funds in the development and public
presentation of archaeological sites, historic monuments, and historic
districts in the hope of economic revitalization through tourism or
increased property values. On the other, unprecedented diplomatic and legal
measures are being taken to repatriate looted cultural property and put an
end to the enormously profitable antiquities trade. What is happening on
the ground? What types of heritage are being marketed, returned, or sold,
and for what purposes? Who stands to gain from these processes?

The goal of this conference is to bring together a wide range of academics,
economists, heritage professionals, development experts, government
officials, and community leaders to examine the economic impacts of
cultural heritage and its implications for contemporary society. Yet rather
than seeing heritage-based tourism, urban redevelopment, and antiquities
looting as distinct economic instances involving monetary profits or
losses, we hope to encourage a trans-disciplinary discussion of the
overlapping economic entanglements of cultural heritage and the broader
social implications.

Themes to be explored in this conference will include:

- Tourism: How has the need to market cultural heritage shaped communities,
landscapes, and historic centers? Do common methods for drawing tourists
(seeking UNESCO World Heritage status, creating destinations, building new
museums, etc.) actually increase tourism? What kinds of social or economic
costs does tourism give rise to, and who or what bears the burden of these
costs?

- Urban Revitalization: How does the promise of heritage tourism revenues
lead to new ways of marketing or packaging the city? What types of
(mega)projects does heritage tourism give rise to? Does it lead to
'economic revitalization'? Who ultimately profits? And what impacts does it
have on the fabric of the city?

- Archaeological Looting, the Antiquities Market, and its Costs: What does
looting tell us about the needs of the communities who live on and near
archaeological sites? What is the larger socio-economic context of looting
in the global antiquities market? Who benefits from the movement of
archaeological material from field to lab to museum?

The conference will bring together a wide variety of scholars to examine
the economic dimensions of cultural heritage and its implications for
contemporary society.

Invited speakers include:

- Gregory Ashworth, Emeritus Professor of Heritage Management and Urban
Tourism at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences of the University of Groningen,
and Visiting Professor at University of Brighton (UK) Tourism and Research
Group and NHTV Breda (Netherlands)
- J.P. Singh, Professor of Global Affairs and Cultural Studies at George
Mason University
- Françoise Benhamou, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po-Paris,
President of the Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI),
and Commissioner of the ARCEP
- Neil Brodie, Senior Research Fellow, Scottish Centre for Crime and
Justice Research, University of Glasgow

To learn more about the conference or to submit an abstract, please visit
http://scholarworks.umass.edu/hightechheritage/callforpapers.html . The
deadline for abstracts is Jan. 15, 2013.

Please direct questions to Grace Cleary ( gcleary@anthro.umass.edu ) at the
Center for Heritage and Society.