in the news...

 

A campaign to remember a labor union war against anti-union companies coincides with an effort to stop mountaintop removal mining threatening the battlefield where union members fought and died. During June 4-11, hundreds of people will be marching 50 miles from Marmet, West Virginia to Blair Mountain in Logan County on the same route marched by miners 90 years ago to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain. An article about this historical event and the contemporary politics that surrounds it can be found here. The website of the Friends of Blair Mountain Project can be found here.

 

The inaugural conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies will be held at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2012. The Association of Critical Heritage Studies, to be launched at this conference, will establish (in association with the International Journal of Heritage Studies) an extensive network of heritage scholars across the globe in order to debate and discuss cutting-edge research in the field of heritage studies. We see Critical Heritage Studies as a synthesis emerging from diverse disciplinary fields, in particular public history, memory studies, museology, cultural heritage, tourism studies, architecture and planning, conservation, as well as cultural geography, sociology, cultural studies and policy, anthropology, archaeology and ethnomusicology, and encourage people working in those areas to submit papers or propose sessions/workshops that address the inter-disciplinary nature of heritage studies. A description of the conference can be found here. Please send any questions, abstracts or comments to Bosse Lagerqvist (Gothenburg) at: bosse.lagerqvist@conservation.gu.se

 

On January 16, 2009, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne designated the historic town of New Philadelphia, Illinois as a one of nine new National Historic Landmarks. National Historic Landmark status(NHL) is the highest federal designation that a U.S. historic landmark can receive, and Former University of Maryland Anthopology Student Charlotte King prepared the NHL, and members of the New Philadelphia Project worked to garner political support, including that of then-Senator Barack Obama. Further news about the project, including its participation in the new Time Team, USA documentary are available here.

 

 

Archaeology in Annapolis Discovery featured in the New York Times.

The Center's recent archaeological work at Bostwick House in Bladensburg has received some media attention. See Channel 8's video coverage, as well as a short piece in the Gazette.
The Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace Project has decided to present May Rihani with its distinguished international award in recognition of her outstanding leadership in promoting women’s education throughout the world, and in appreciation of her services to the legacy of Ameen Rihani and Kahlil Gibran. Ms. Rihani is among the foremost educators in the field of international education of women, and Senior Vice President and Director of the Global Learning Group at the Academy for Educational Development, (AED). In addition to her successful international achievements, she is a poet in whose work is read by many people throughout the Arab world.

Michael Paolisso on Chesapeake Culinary Heritage

Center board member Michael Paolissos paper on Chesapeake foodways and heritage appears in the December 2007 issue of American Anthropologist. The volume explores food and technology, and Michael's paper uses cultural modeling to explore consumption of imported versus local crab meat. In doing so, he examines "what implicit cultural knowledge must be present to sustain a traditional connection to the bay even
when the crab cakes consumed are made with imported crab
meat."

The paper is available online through Anthrosource.

Hampden Archaeology Receives Funding Support

The Maryland Historical Trust, Preservation Maryland, and the William G. Baker Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation have each made generous funding grants to the Center for Heritage Resource Studies to further the Hampden Community Archaeology Project. The funds will support the processing, curation, and exhibition of archaeological materials recovered from Hampden sites.

This funding is vital to the continuation of the project, and will allow graduate students, local community members, and project leaders to remain involved in this ongoing project.

Suheil Bushrui to receives Landmark Award

On November 15, 2007 Center Afflilate Professor Suheil Bushrui received the University of Maryland's Landmark Award for exceptional long-term achievements in support of international life at the University. Professor Bushrui is a distinguished author, poet, critic, translator and media personality, well known in the United States, Europe and the Arab World. Widely recognized for his seminal studies in English of the works of W.B. Yeats and he is also the foremost authority on the works of Kahlil Gibran. In his capacity as Founder and President of the International Association for the Study of the Life and Works of Kahlil Gibran, he collaborates with a network of international scholars and researchers. More information on his work is available here.

Students, community and project collaborators have come together for the third season of the NSF-REU New Philadelphia fieldschool. Click below for current news on the project:

The Hampden Community Archaeology Project, co-directed by Center Affiliates Dave Gadsby and Bob Chidester, is underway for 2006.

Look for updates and more information on the project blog. Also read about last year's season in Baltimore's Urbanite Magazine. Click here to read the full article "Digging for Meaning."
photo courtesy of Urbanite Magazine, Photgrapher: Gail Burton

Archaeology in Annapolis

 

Read about the Archaeology in Annapolis summer 2006 field season discoveries in the July 21Washington Post article,

"Unearthing Slavery, Finding Peace: A Dig at an Eastern Shore Plantation Could Help Local Blacks See Their Past"  (access to this article requires free registration with the Washington Post)

This summer The Prince of Wales is helping to launch a new paper series entitled Essays on the Alliance of Civilization, coedited by Dr. Suheil Bushrui and David Cadman ( Temos Academy), to be published under the auspices of the Center. This series is part of the United Nations initiative, "Alliance of Civilizations" UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2005. Prince Charles has written the first essay in the series, " Religion – the Ties that Bind.”

Please click here to read the recent UMD press release on the series.

Together with affiliate Suheil Bushrui, the Center recently hosted a visit from Henri Zoghaib, acclaimed poet and scholar, and Director of the Center for Lebanese Heritage at the Lebanon American Univeristy. The CLH is charged with the collection and documentation of tangible and intangible materials related to Lebanon's heritage, its culture and civilization. Zoghaib is also Founder and President of the Odyssee Academy, an independent non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting a culture of peace through literature and the arts.

 

Center Board member Mark Leone recently published "The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital: Excavations in Annapolis" with the University of California Press. Below is an excerpt from the publisher's description:

"What do archaeological excavations in Annapolis, Maryland, reveal about daily life in the city's history? Considering artifacts such as ceramics, spirit bundles, printer's type, and landscapes, this engaging, generously illustrated, and original study illuminates the lives of the city's residents--walking, seeing, reading, talking, eating, and living together in freedom and in oppression for more than three hundred years. Interpreting the results of one of the most innovative projects in American archaeology, The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital speaks powerfully to the struggle for liberty among African Americans and the poor."

Dr. Suheil Bushrui recently moved his research and publication programs to the Center and is now affiliate faculty of the Department of Anthropology. Presently, Bushrui is the first incumbent of CIDCM's Bahá'ì Chair for World Peace, a position to which he was appointed in July 1992 and retired from in January 2006. He is the founder and current Director of UM's Kahlil Gibran Research and Studies Project, which he now directs while participating in the Center.