Project Mentor: Prof. Kasey Diserens Morgan, Sociology & Anthropology
2027 Impact Fellows:
Project Description:
Did you know that part of Bethlehem is a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Cultural heritage is all around us, a part of our daily lives, yet we rarely understand how it influences us. Heritage takes many forms, and the Lehigh Valley has excellent representations of it across many categories. It has natural heritage, cultural heritage, indigenous heritage, colonial heritage, industrial heritage, dark heritage, world heritage, and national heritage to name just a few, and has a deep temporal history across those groupings. It is layered and multi-vocal, but there is not a central repository to see how these different heritage spheres interact with each other and co-create new forms of heritage.
The aim of this project is to understand the heritage landscape of the Lehigh Valley, and create a robust community network through which partners can share resources and insights. We will do this by creating story maps of the various groups and heritage places, as well as conducting community interviews and workshops. The methodology is centered in community-based participatory research, and many of our eventual research questions will come from various local communities themselves. This project will also tie in to questions of tourism, community engagement, how heritage is displayed and used, and the ethics surrounding the use of heritage in various contexts. Open to all majors, but would be of particular interest to those who want to learn how sociology and anthropology, tourism, architecture, built heritage, intangible heritage, education, and history can have an impact on our world today.