Teotihuacan, Mexico UNESCO World Heritage Site In-Field Research Project

At-a-Glance

This two-year, in-field research project was my doctoral research at Stanford University. I developed a research project that generated both quantitative and qualitative data to answer a pressing question for the heritage management of World Heritage Sites (Natural and Cultural): can managers of “the past,” archaeologists, curators and other specialists, innovate their practices through actively involving local residents and indigenous stakeholders. I worked at Teotihuacan, Mexico, the largest WHS in Mexico, and the largest contributor to Mexico’s revenue-generated archaeo-tourism industry. I broke with traditional ethnographic and statistical survey approaches by actively engaging a diverse group of informants: all “users” of the heritage site, whether janitors or guards at the site, or kitchen workers or shamans in nearby pueblos. My work and subsequent publications helped innovate a new type of “inclusive” heritage management at archaeological sites worldwide, and is now the management standard set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO) for managing World Heritage Sites.

Timeline

24 months

My Role

Principal Researcher

Methods

Ethnography

Statistical Survey

Results

New management standard at World Heritage Sites

1 book, 1 dissertation, 6 articles and chapters

7 presentations and guest lectureships