Comments and proposed contributions to session and proposed follow-up publication welcome!
Proposed Symposium: Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Meetings
“Toward an Archaeological Agora Revisited: Using Collaborative Approaches in facilitating public participation and creation of archaeological knowledge and understanding”
Organizer(s): John H Jameson (National Park Service), jhjameson@yahoo.com; Harold Mytum (Centre for Manx Studies), H.Mytum@liverpool.ac.uk
Sponsors: National Park Service; ICOMOS Committee on Interpretation and Presentation (ICIP)
Abstract:
Public archaeologists are increasingly using collaborative approaches in working with the public in devising effective strategies for conveying translating archaeological information and significance in both academic and public arenas. Successful programs empower and motivate lay persons to more active involvement. We are moving beyond the concept of the public as recipients or “customers” of interpretation to focus on active public participation in archaeological and interpretation processes. Using interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary approaches, this conceptual shift facilitates analysis of public participation in the production of knowledge. Emphasizing collaborative approaches, this session expands the discussions from a similar 2011 session. Examples are presented of this new focus: how non-academics or lay persons create, use, and react to this new knowledge. In these variable relationships, how do professional and lay researchers interact? What sorts of past are being created? How do these interpretations complement or compete with traditional archaeological knowledge claims?
—————————————————————————————–
EFFECTIVE INTERPRETATION OF ARCHEOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE RESOURCES
WORKSHOP, OCTOBER 23 – 28, 2011
Class web page: http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/course-of-study/presidio2011/index.htm:
Training Partners:
NPS Southeast Archeological Center
Yosemite National Park
The Presidio Trust Archaeology Lab
University of California, Berkeley
Contributors:
Yosemite National Park, Rosie the Riveter / WWII Home Front NHP, John Muir National Historic Site, Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
DESCRIPTION: This 5-day workshop will enhance interdisciplinary communication skills for using a team approach to developing and carrying out effective public interpretation and education programs and products. Interpreters and educators will gain knowledge of archeological and cultural heritage sites for developing presentations and media about cultural heritage resources. Cultural resource specialists and archeologists will gain knowledge and skills in interpretation for developing interpretive presentations and media about cultural resources. All groups gain knowledge and skills through increased dialogue and interactions between cultural resource specialists and interpreters for joint development of effective interpretation of cultural heritage products. With multi-agency instructors and students, the program augments the mission of federal agencies to provide interagency technical assistance and information exchange.
COMPETENCIES: The course will use National Park Service’s Archeology-Interpretation Shared Competency Course of Study training module (NPS Module 440), “Effective Interpretation of Archeological Resources.” Information about the module is posted at URL: http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/course-of-study/final.htm. The scope of the workshop encompasses cultural heritage sites, including archeological and other cultural heritage resources.
PURPOSE AND GOALS: To understand the present and move toward the future, we must analyze, understand, and learn from the past. The goals of this training are to strengthen the relationship between archeology and cultural heritage interpretation and to enhance the presentation of archeology to the public. Among the main precepts for the course are the needs for interdisciplinary communication and for sensitive interpretation to multicultural and ethnically diverse audiences. Two major goals of the course are to create opportunities for audiences to (1) learn about cultural resource interpretations and how they are made, and (2) to ascribe their own meanings to cultural and archeological resources, helping to increase public understanding and concern for preservation and protection of cultural heritage sites.
All nominated applicants must send (email preferred) a nomination form (download from class web page at http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/course-of-study/presidio2011/) to John Jameson, Southeast Archeological Center, e-mail: john_jameson@nps.gov, fax 850-580-2884, by COB, September 19, 2011.
The National Association for Interpretation (NAI) will host the sixth annual international conference on the subject of heritage interpretation in Panama. The conference will bring together 150 to 200 delegates from 30 to 40 nations in an effort to create opportunities for professional development for attendees and establish a network for professional associations and individuals involved in heritage interpretation around the globe.