Casualties of Heritage Distancing

Making the Past Relevant

“…Each year, we will be collecting several metrics, utilizing surveys, inventories, and interviews to record Making the Past Relevant (cont. ) the number of participants in community heritage events; the number of women participating in the handcraft enterprise; the quality, quantity, and price of their handcrafts; the number of school collaborations that result in heritage products and projects; and the community's curation or continuation of these products and projects (Coben 2014;McAnany and Parks 2012). We will also monitor the community's destructive activities or independent preservation efforts (Coben 2014:283).…”

“…As we move forward, we strive to thoughtfully and cautiously link these local and regional stakeholders, serving as mediators to help all those who are engaged and interested in the archaeological heritage of Huaylas find common ground and simultaneously prevent the regional appropriation, commodification, and trivialization of indigenous heritage (Herrera 2011a(Herrera , 2014Higueras 2008;Pacifico and Vogel 2012;Silverman 2002). As a starting point, we envision a regional model for heritage education that can be tailored to specific communities: flexible heritage curriculums for schools featuring the archaeology and traditions of the province and their particular district with structured activities, such as oral history projects, that engage school children and their families as producers and protectors of their local heritage (McAnany and Parks 2012). In addition, to continue increasing the social relevance of our work, we seek to apply the co-creative approach beyond our heritage and development initiatives to involve the community in the planning and execution of our archaeological research (e.g., Colwell-Chanthaphonh and Ferguson 2007;Marshall 2002;Moser et al 2002;Rizvi 2006).…”

“…To do so, some investigators present their research to local communities and others establish site museums (e.g., Silverman 2006c). Archaeologists have recently shown, however, that heritage preservation efforts are most successful when communities are contributors and stakeholders, not just observers to and students of these efforts (e.g., Little and Shackel 2014:83-85;McAnany and Parks 2012). They also show how initiatives to preserve archaeological sites are more sustainable when they are grounded in economic development (e.g., Coben 2014).…”

“…While there are several examples of similar archaeological outreach approaches in Peru and elsewhere(Castañeda and Matthews 2008;Chirikure and Pwiti 2008;Colwell-Chanthaphonh and Ferguson 2007; Derry and Malloy 2003; Erickson 1998; Klarich 2014;Little and Shackel 2014;McAnany and Parks 2012;Nielsen et al 2003; Onuki 1999;Pacifico and Vogel 2012), co-cre-…”

Reflecting on PASUC Heritage Initiatives through Time, Positionality, and Place

“…Thus, one can easily posit continuity between contemporary people and the ancient Maya. Yet, oppression, poverty, and spiritual alienation over the last 500 years have disconnected many contemporary people from the deep past [17]. In the face of ethnic discrimination, upwardly mobile people often reject ties to Maya cultural traditions [12].…”