Welcome to the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Cultural heritage is a central element in the narratives that society constructs and presents about itself, it's origins, character and future projects
Dr Dacia Viejo Rose
Director, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
About Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
At the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre (CHRC), we understand heritage as an inherently social and political phenomenon that involves a dynamic relationship between the past and the present, shaped by how we choose to value the past and carry it forward into the future.
What is Heritage?
Where History is the study of the past, Heritage Studies is about understanding the many ways the past is used in the present to construct meaning and shape the future.
While archaeological sites, historic houses, monuments, and collections are rightly considered heritage, what makes them heritage is not only dependent on their material characteristics. Associations, memories, stories and emotions play a central role. Other aspects of social life such as food, dances, songs, languages and knowledge involved in creating craft objects, also constitute intangible heritage.
Heritage is a rapidly growing field of fundamental contemporary significance. It is a key element in the way diverse institutions, political movements, and communities recognise their identities, attribute value, contest rights claims, and realise their political and economic strategies.
Researchers at the CHRC regularly seek to work in ways that are not bounded by these binaries, thus capturing the full range of values that make heritage such a rich subject of research.
