Theme:
3. Heritage Narratives and Representations
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
The Agency of Value in Archaeological Heritage
Content:
Ideas of value have become key elements in debates within heritage-related disciplines, and particularly archaeology. There is an abundant and diverse literature on how social value, as opposed to supposedly non-social value, can be created, circulated, or challenged. Similarly, there is growing consensus on the need to not only understand how people engage with archaeological heritage, but also to reflect a far greater diversity of experiences and values in place-based policymaking and heritage management processes. These debates have profound consequences for the nature of archaeology in practice (e.g., the development of fields such as public archaeology) and theory (e.g., how we conceptualise archaeological heritage and value, as well as their agency).
This session will explore a diverse range of archaeological projects and the different ways in which they (re)produce and circulate value. We are particularly interested in contexts where different actors are working collaboratively in archaeological heritage-making processes (from planners and those in the construction industry, to policy makers, residents, landowners, and interest groups, to academic and commercial archaeologists, conservators and heritage managers) and how these actors express and negotiate their potentially differing values in practice. Is value itself an actant in these networks, with the capacity to catalyse or direct management processes? Are all values considered equally, and how might analysing discourses on the value of archaeological heritage help move us towards more open, participatory, sustainable, and socially transformative practices?
The aim of this interdisciplinary session is to provide a space for dialogue on how we understand the networks of value created through archaeological heritage-making processes. Papers are invited that explore theoretical, strategic, and/or methodological approaches to the concept of value. Case studies may be drawn from, but are not limited to, community projects, citizen science, community museology, public archaeology, heritage management, research projects, commercial archaeology, and conservation.
Keywords:
Social value, Non-social value, Public Archaeology, Design, Heritage stakeholders, Agency
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
David Barreiro (Spain) 1
Co-organisers:
Guillermo Díaz de Liaño (United Kingdom) 2
Ana Pastor Pérez (Norway) 3,4
Elizabeth Robson (United Kingdom) 5
Sadie Watson (United Kingdom) 2
Affiliations:
1. Institute of Heritage Sciences - Spanish National Research Council
2. MOLA - Museum of London Archaeology
3. Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research - NIKU
4. University of Barcelona
5. University of Glasgow
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