Abstracts

Community-Engaged Archaeology in Sudan

Geoff Emberling and Anwar Mahjoub

It is useful to think about heritage interests at varied scales. Archaeology in Sudan is perhaps best known to the “international community” and its institutions, like UNESCO, as the home of the monumental remains of “ancient Nubia” as uncovered in the Aswan High Dam salvage projects of the 1960s. On a national level, Sudan is a highly diverse country that has, for much of its modern history, both colonial and post-independence, used archaeology and heritage narratives in attempts to foster a common past and a shared identity, with mixed success at best. Locally, most of the prominent archaeological sites are located in the Nile Valley, within the territory of the medieval kingdoms of Nubia. But many of these sites were built before the Nubian kingdoms arose, as part of the ancient culture of Kush. Within this complex and often contested heritage landscape, the University of Michigan’s project at the archaeological site of El-Kurru began to work more collaboratively with the community in the neighboring village. This talk, given by an American archaeologist and a Sudanese student from El-Kurru, reflects on 10 years of attempts and mistakes in community-engaged archaeology at El-Kurru.

From Seeing Through Different Lenses to Braiding Knowledge: Interpreting the Past at Homolovi

Lisa C. Young

In the American Southwest, knowledge from Native descendant communities has informed interpretations of archaeological sites for over 100 years. However, the interactions between archaeologists and descendant communities have changed greatly since the 1890s. In this paper, I examine the changing relationships between archaeologists who worked in the Homolovi area of northeastern Arizona and Hopi people for whom archaeological sites are the footprints of their ancestors. Discussions of community-engaged archaeology primarily focus on collaboration in the context of research. Instead, I explore how shared interests in the protection and interpretation of the Homolovi area, especially in crisis situations, encouraged innovative partnerships. I argue that public-facing interpretation create opportunities to braid together Indigenous and scientific knowledge that result in mutually beneficial outcomes for descendant communities and the archaeologists.

Community Archaeology, Civil Rights Heritage, and Capacity Building at The Malcolm X House

Krysta Ryzewski

This presentation reflects upon the process and contributions of collaborative archaeology involved in the Malcolm X House Project in Inkster, Michigan. The 800-square foot home was where Malcolm Little was living in 1952 when he assumed leadership roles in the Nation of Islam, changed his name to Malcolm X, and rose to international prominence as a civil rights leader. In 2020, the Inkster-based non-profit Project We Hope, Dream, Believe partnered with local archaeologists and historic preservationists to secure funds to purchase and restore the derelict house into a museum and community center commemorating Malcolm X’s legacy. Archaeological investigations were deemed by the non-profit to be an integral component of the project. This presentation details how collaborations between the non-profit, local residents, and archaeologists succeeded in navigating historic preservation and fundraising efforts. Some of the project’s many outcomes to date include the empowerment of an underrepresented community to build capacity in historic preservation professions and local government.

Archaeology and Public Engagement in Italy’s Past and Present

Giulia Saltini Semerari

In this talk, I trace the winding history of Italian archaeology’s engagement with the public, from tool of fascist propaganda under Mussolini, to post-war reaction, to the creation of contemporary archaeological parks. Key case studies show how at each stage the creation of new archaeological landscapes through excavation, restauration and management shaped and re-shaped local identities, both at the national and the local, microregional scale. This overview will help highlight profound differences between current practices in Italy and in the English-speaking world, engendering interesting reflections about how local histories can shape our discipline and its impact on the communities amongst which it operates.

The Development of an Engaged Archaeology Project in Mongolia

J. Bayarsaikhan, J. Clark, P. Hommel, B. Miller, Baasankhuu, B. Nasanchimeg, A. Ventresca-Miller

Mongolia’s rich cultural heritage is invaluable, yet it faces significant threats driven by social and economic factors. The looting of archaeological sites in the Darkhad Depression is particularly concerning, as it highlights the immense and often irreparable loss that occurs when cultural heritage is left unprotected. While this issue may not be fully recognized by the government, it is a deeply heartbreaking reality for archaeologists working in this region of Mongolia. Our joint Mongolian-American research team has been conducting extensive research in the region for decades. Intense looting in this region prompted discussions and dedicated efforts to combat illegal activities, salvage archaeological materials, and restore cultural heritage at looted sites. Alongside our ongoing archaeological research, we created a program to educate local populations, especially school age children, to respect their unique cultural heritage. Our efforts aim to foster a deeper appreciation and connection to heritage, paving the way for its long-term preservation and protection. As we move forward on this project we continue to build collaborations with multiple communities, building a collaborative effort between people from the countryside, city, national parks, and diverse ethnic groups. The responsibility to protect heritage and stop looting lies with all of these communities working together.

Get Out: Surveying a Community’s Backyards

Zhaneta Gjyshja

This talk will focus on a case study from Kosovo, specifically the Lluga Archaeological Project, which focused on a Late Neolithic site. The site of Lluga was just an "agricultural field" until we identified it in 2019. Since then, we have conducted multidisciplinary research, including gridded site collections, a magnetometry survey, artifact analysis, and 3D reconstructions.

A key aspect of the project has been exploring how to share our findings through public talks and presentations. We are also working on ways to involve the community in promoting and protecting the local cultural and archaeological heritage. The talk will also focus on how we have built and maintained relationships with various stakeholders, from the Ministry of Culture of Kosova, which oversees all archaeological projects in the country, to the farmers who "own" the site. Additionally, it will address our strategies for navigating these relationships while managing our limited time and financial resources as a graduate student.

Community-Based Research at the NSF Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science

Sonya Atalay

Abstract coming soon.

Museums and Their Communities: A Processual Approach to Collaborative Heritage Work

Raymond Silverman

What can archaeologists interested in engaging the communities in which they work learn from museums? This paper presents an overview of some of the strategies museums have pursued in their efforts to work with the source communities from which their collections and exhibitions derive. All such efforts have involved ethically informed collaboration.

What does it mean to collaborate with the community in which one pursues their research? If collaboration is characterized as a partnership, what obligations do the partners have towards one another? How is authority shared among the actors involved in collaborative research and exhibition making? How might collaboration impact the nature and outcome of research? These are but a few of the questions raised when critiquing collaborative heritage work.

Such culture work is often “messy,” involving both successes and failures, methods that sometimes work, but often don’t, due to the unique constellation of social and political factors associated with all collaborative undertakings. The paper suggests that even in situations in which project goals are not met, much can be learned from the critical assessment of the process of working in and with a community. Ultimately, the paper argues for a processual approach to community engaged heritage work, an approach that acknowledges the value of pursuing a reflective approach to collaborative knowledge production.

Le Musée archéologique de Leptiminus, a Michigan-Tunisian Project of the 1990s

David L. Stone

In 1990, the government of Tunisia invited the University of Michigan to collaborate on an excavation, survey, and museum project at Leptiminus, a mid-sized port town active from about 500 BCE to 700 CE. In this paper the presenter will share his experiences of working on the installation of the initial galleries in the Leptiminus Archaeological Museum, in which he played a minor role as a member of the Michigan team.

Both Tunisian and American archaeologists shared the goal of creating a didactic museum at Leptiminus that would serve the local community and present information relevant to the Punic through Byzantine periods. Exhibits explained archaeological methods, ancient burial practices, imported and exported goods, and construction techniques. While this was an uncommon choice — since many Tunisian museums then, and still today, are showcases for sculptures and mosaics — the Leptiminus Museum functioned as an important center for education, municipal events, and family outings for 25 years, until its galleries were closed due to the need for renovation. The presentation will also comment on the role that the absence of a museum plays in a community, and situate this museum in the broader context of Tunisian heritage issues.

Reparative Approaches to Indigenous Philippine Collections: Engaging with Communities & Artists in a Research Museum

Jim Moss

The Philippine Collections at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology are vast, significant, and largely unknown. Instrumental in the founding of the Museum, their collection and curation have been steeped in colonialism for a century. From 2022-2024, UMMAA was a partner in ReConnect/ReCollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections at the University of Michigan. Through this project, several groups of Filipino and Filipinx-American artists, scholars, and culture bearers were invited to spend time with the collections at museums, libraries, and archives across campus. In this talk, I will show the value of inviting community members into UMMAA’s collections. I will also discuss subsequent trips to the Philippines to participate in knowledge repatriation and engaging descendant communities through local museums and archives.

Creating a Community-rooted Ecomuseum in Highland Lesotho, Southern Africa

Brian A. Stewart, Sam Challis and Nthabiseng Mokoena-Mokhali

The ‘mountain kingdom’ of Lesotho lags behind other southern African nations in heritage resource development. Lesotho’s magnificent rock art is disappearing at an appalling rate, with natural weathering processes grossly accelerated by vandalism. Heritage valorization efforts have been minimal, and economic development has largely focused on hydroelectric damming and diamond mining. For rural communities, the predominant experience of such top-down development projects has been massive disruptions to their communities, villages and landscapes. Tourism, such as it is, has consisted primarily of South Africans crossing the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Escarpment to off-road for several days. Since 2018, we have been laying the groundwork for the creation and implementation of a financially sustainable, heritage-conscious, community-based ecomuseum in highland Lesotho’s Sehlabathebe region.
Ecomuseums provide powerful platforms for the valorization of a given region’s heritage resources through the direct involvement of local communities. At the same time, they protect and strengthen links between local inhabitants, their cultural identity and the place in which they live. The Sehlabathebe ecomuseum takes its spatial focus a network of significant heritage and natural sites in Lesotho's spectacular southeastern highlands, including the country's main national park. Its ultimate goal is to protect this region's extraordinarily rich and imperiled heritage record, while fostering economic development by promoting sustainable tourism and providing employment opportunities.

The Archaeological Atlas of Kosova (AASK): Building a Bridge for Collaborative Community Engagement and Heritage Preservation through Deep Mapping // Atlasi i Lokaliteteve Arkeologjik i Kosovës (AASK): Ndërtimi i një ure për angazhimin bashkëpunues të komunitetit dhe ruajtjen e trashëgimisë përmes GISit

Erina Baci, Gabriella Armstrong and Premtim Alaj 

The Atlas of Archaeological Sites in Kosova (AASK) is an international collaborative initiative designed to enhance archaeological data accessibility, education, and heritage preservation for students, researchers, and the general public. AASK began as a UROP project at the University of Michigan in 2021, originally intended as a teaching resource for GIS applications in archaeology. The greater significance of the database became apparent through conversations with Kosovar archaeology students who voiced frustrations regarding the lack of data and software availability, and funding/support for the promotion and preservation of cultural sites in the country. While still in development, some early outcomes include: 1) hosting digital panels on archaeological spatial analysis where students receive training on introductory geospatial analyses using the database, 2) creating a book that documents archaeological sites, focusing specifically on fortified settlements through high resolution 3D models (which can be accessed online through QR codes) and 3) creating an online platform through which sites, data, and material heritage (architectural, archaeological, and cultural) can be accessed and documented digitally. By leveraging deep mapping methodologies and interdisciplinary collaboration, AASK seeks to empower local scholars, especially students, enhance heritage stewardship, and bridge gaps in archaeological knowledge through open-access data and educational outreach.

Albanian: Atlasi i lokaliteteve Arkeologjike në Kosovë (AASK) është një iniciativë bashkëpunuese ndërkombëtare e krijuar për të përmirësuar qasje më të lehtë në të dhënat arkeologjike. Kjo platformë/iniciativë do të shërben në radhë të parë për të ndikuar drejt për së drejti në edukimin dhe ruajtjen e trashëgimisë kulturore për studentët në veçanti, por, edhe për arkeologët, komunitetin e trashëgimisë kulturore dhe publikun në përgjithësi. AASK filloi si një projekt UROP në Universitetin e Miçiganit në vitin 2021, i krijuar fillimisht si një burim mësimor për aplikimet GIS në arkeologji. Rëndësia më e madhe e bazës së të dhënave u bë e dukshme përmes bisedave me studentë kosovarë që studionin arkeologjinë në Kosovë, të cilët shprehën zhgënjime në lidhje me mungesën e të dhënave dhe softuerit për GIS, si dhe financimin/mbështetje për promovimin dhe ruajtjen e objekteve të trashëgimisë kulturore, përkatësisht trashëgimisë arkeologjike. Ndërsa ende në zhvillim, disa rezultate të hershme të prekshme përfshijnë: 1) organizimin e paneleve dixhitale mbi analizën hapësinore në arkeologji, ku studentët do të
trajnohen mbi analizat hyrëse gjeo-hapësinore duke përdorur bazën e të dhënave, 2) krijimin e një libri qe dokumenton lokalitetet arkeologjike, në theks të veçantë vendbanimet kodrinore te Kosovës përmes modeleve 3D, dhe 3) krijimi i një platforme në internet përmes së cilës trashëgimia kulturore si dhe të dhënat nga trashëgimia materiale (d.m.th., arkitektonike, arkeologjike dhe kulturore, etj.) mund të jenë lehtë të qasshme dhe të dokumentohen në mënyrë dixhitale. AASK si qëllim kryesor ka të fuqizojë studiuesit vendor, veçanërisht studentët, të përmirësojnë kujdesin e trashëgimisë kulturore dhe të kapërcejë boshllëqet në njohuritë arkeologjike përmes të dhënave me akses të hapur dhe shtrirje arsimore.

Old Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone; Designing Tools for Community Interpretation and Adaptive Reuse in Heritage Contexts

Dana Salama

Old Fourah Bay College is the oldest “Western-style university” in West Africa (founded by the Christian Missionary Society in 1816); a significant historic landmark in Sierra Leone, standing at the intersection of colonial hegemony, abolition, experimental education, student activism, political organization, as well as the post-colonial histories of Sierra Leone. In 1999, shortly after the siege of the eastern portion of Freetown, a catastrophic fire broke out at Old Fourah Bay College, consuming the roof and wooden floors. Miraculously, the main masonry superstructure survived and remains standing today. In 2022, I served as a project manager and consultant for Aziza Chaouni Projects, the architectural consultants for World Monuments Fund, who began implementing emergency conservation efforts as part of the WMF’s Watch program. Given the lack of material evidence at the site, and the dispersion of descendants in the wake of the Sierra Leonean Civil War, we worked with local heritage activist Isatu Smith to gather testimony, and artefacts in collaboration with alumni, current residents of the Cline Town neighbourhood, and others. For example, Whatsapp groups with dozens of alumni sharing graduation photos as well as oral histories delivered via voice note became central to our diagnostic work. Through extensive community consultations over a period of two years, we developed a Conservation Management Plan and adaptive reuse masterplan, as well as a holistic understanding of the site’s significance to communities near and far. This presentation will focus on the development and design of collaborative tools which were central to the conservation of Old Fourah Bay College, with the aim of finding interdisciplinary ground and critical approaches between architecture and archaeology.

“Veni Vidi Vici Gabii”: Embracing Local Interest and Fostering Community Engagement at Gabii, Italy

 Gabriel Key and Laura Motta

In Italy, one interacts with cultural heritage sites daily. Each town has at least one cultural heritage site; a church, Roman ruins, a Renaissance palace, olive groves or vineyards with designated protected status. The ubiquity and visibility of these sites means that cultural heritage has a different meaning for locals, who must manage the inconveniences archaeological remains cause, such as delays in infrastructure, than tourists and scholars travelling to Italy. The relationship between local communities and their archaeological heritage is difficult to generalize and varies across the peninsula and between rural and urban centers.

Here we present a case study, Gabii, a site located in a state run archaeological park–closed to the public–on the outskirts of Rome. Gabii occupies a peculiar intersection: while the site is within the metropolitan area of Rome, its position is liminal– the site is difficult to reach via public transportation and the surrounding community is socio-economically disenfranchised with a large immigrant population. Additionally, the project receives funding from North American grants and universities and its directors are a mix of foreign and Italian. We will discuss the evolution of community engagement at Gabii which has been fueled by renewed local interest and a change in administration of the archaeological park.

Salvaging Sentiment: Community-Engaged Anthropology, Animation and the Social Life of Archival Attachment

Yasmin Moll

In this presentation, I explore the collaborative and community-engaged afterlives of ethnographic photographs of Nubia before displacement. Part of a large-scale project of salvage ethnography involving American, European and Egyptian anthropologists, these photos have a lively social life within the Nubian community in Egypt.  Activists and ordinary people alike repurpose and remediate them across a variety of spaces, from cafes to community museums to social media platforms. Our Narrating Nubia project "Animating Nubian Futures" engaged this community tradition through an animated adaptation of Waa Hanina, an iconic Nubian displacement song from the 1960s. Working with a variety of community stakeholders, we experimented with animation as a creative method of collaboratively giving new life to the salvage visual ethnography of Nubia, approaching this archive as above all a site of community attachment attuned to heritage revitalization. This project is informed by a decolonizing ethos of co-creation, reflecting a broader ethical and epistemological shift within cultural anthropology towards more community-engaged and participatory research.

A Decade Building a Community Heritage Partnership in Quintana Roo, Mexico

Tiffany C. Fryer

Heritage practitioners committed to deep engagement with communities understand that the notion community is a useful heuristic that sometimes masks a far more complex set of relationships than the label suggests. Who we understand as included in the communities we work with may hinge on many axes including identity and social status categories, descent, convenience or proximity, and juridical recognition. Recognition can be especially important when working with Indigenous communities. In this talk, I have two aims. First, I want to reflect on having co-facilitated community-organized heritage research in Quintana Roo, Mexico for more than a decade now–and the ways in which my changing academic career status has impacted that experience. Then, I want to also probe the ways differing understandings of who or what constitutes communities impact the contours and depths of community-based heritage practices. I consider, for instance, how respecting customs around the appropriate avenues for seeking and receiving permissions from the community we collaborate with in Mexico has allowed members of the Tihosuco Heritage Preservation and Community Development Project to build a strong foundation as a reasonably integrated, mutually beneficial, and sufficiently flexible initiative in the town where we live and work. We have learned over the years that the challenges of long term community-based heritage work can be plentiful, but the outcome is well worth it.

Thoughts on the Future of Community Projects and University Centers

Richard M. Leventhal

Abstract coming soon.