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Prof. Thomas Visser

Professor
University of Vermont - Historic Preservation Program
Participates in 1 Session
Professor Thomas Durant Visser is the director of the Historic Preservation Program in the Department of History at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont, USA. He has taught courses there since 1985 on such topics as researching historic buildings and sites, historic preservation planning and policy, architectural conservation, history of American building technology, and other historic preservation topics. As a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant award, much of Professor Visser's scholarly research has focused on vernacular architecture and heritage building features. His award-winning Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings was published by the University Press of New England. His latest book, Porches of North America, also published by the University Press of New England, examines how this remarkable building feature in its many forms and uses has evolved in the United States and Canada.

Sessions in which Prof. Thomas Visser participates

Tuesday 7 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
9:00
9:00 - 9:30 | 30 minutes

Sessions in which Prof. Thomas Visser attends

Friday 3 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
13:00
13:00 - 15:00 | 2 hours
Heritage as an Agent of Change (Epistemologies, Ontologies, Teaching)

This forum will explore the current directions of critical heritage studies and what makes ACHS distinctive. Panel members will discuss what the term critical means to them, and what directions they would like to see develop in the future. To help develop an open dialogue, the session will also give considerable time to contributions from the audience.  

14:30
14:30 - 16:00 | 1 hour 30 minutes
Co-Construction and Community Based HeritageUrban HeritageActivists and ExpertsArchitecture and Urbanism

Qu’est-ce que le patrimoine change à Montréal? Qu’est-ce que Montréal change au patrimoine? Ce débat vise à mettre en discussion l'évolution et le devenir du patrimoine dans la métropole du Québec en interrogeant les motifs de l'attachement (ou de l'indifférence) de la société civile et des décideurs, mais aussi en questionnant les moyens dont ils disposent pour agir sur le patrimoine. Au-delà de la fameuse "pierre grise" et des matériaux expressifs de l'identité historique de Montré...

17:00
17:00 - 19:30 | 2 hours 30 minutes
Festive Event

Welcome addresses and cocktail, followed by the Concordia Signature Event "The Garden of the Grey Nuns". As the opening ceremony and cocktail take place in the former Grey Nuns' Motherhouse, recycled into campus residence and reading rooms by Concordia University,  delegates will also have the possibility to discover the video Three Grey Nuns (3 minutes, by Ron Rudin and Phil Lichti. Three Grey Nuns recount their memories of communal life in the Grey Nun’s Motherhouse.  Built...

Saturday 4 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
7:00
9:00
9:00 - 10:00 | 1 hour
Public event
Simultaneous translation - Traduction simultanée

What if we changed our views on heritage? And if heritage has already changed? While, on the global scene, states maintain their leading role in the mobilization of social and territorial histories, on the local scale, regions, neighbourhoods and parishes have changed. Citizens and communities too: they latch on to heritage to express an unprecedented range of belongings that no law seems to be able to take measures to contain, often to the discontent of...

10:30
13:30
13:30 - 17:00 | 3 hours 30 minutes
Changes in Heritage (New Manifestations)Notions of Heritage
13:30 - 17:00 | 3 hours 30 minutes
Changes in Heritage (New Manifestations)Notions of HeritageMuseums
15:30
15:30 - 17:00 | 1 hour 30 minutes
Heritage Changes the Local SocietiesNotions of Heritage
18:30
18:30 - 20:00 | 1 hour 30 minutes
Public event
Simultaneous translation - Traduction simultanée

Most of what we experience as heritage emerges into conscious recognition through a complex mixture of political and ideological filters, including nationalism.  In these processes, through a variety of devices (museums, scholarly research, consumer reproduction, etc.), dualistic classifications articulate a powerful hierarchy of value and significance.  In particular, the tangible-intangible pair, given legitimacy by such international bodies as UNESCO, reproduces a selective ordering of cul...

Sunday 5 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
14:00
14:00 - 15:30 | 1 hour 30 minutes
Co-Construction and Community Based HeritageHeritage Changes the Social OrderCitizenshipPublic event
Simultaneous translation - Traduction simultanée

"What does heritage change?" is a multifaceted  question to which the answer(s) are in primary respects related to real-life negotiations among different groups of citizens, cultures, races, ethnic groups, sexual identities, and social classes about received, official and/or widely accepted or accomodated intangible attributes, cultural traditions, historic monuments, buildings, and other transmitted or revived historical legacies. Heritage designated by and for whom, for what motivations, an...

Monday 6 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
9:00
9:00 - 12:30 | 3 hours 30 minutes
Heritage Changes the Social OrderActivists and ExpertsPublic event
Heritage changes peopleActivist vs expertHeritage-makers

As recent publications have demonstrated, the role of the expert in heritage conservation is a relevant, indeed imperative topic of discussion. On the one hand, the knowledge required to work in the field has evolved over time in response to changes in the definition of heritage. Once the exclusive domain of architects and historians, the expertise needed today draws on a broader scope of disciplines including urban planning, landscape studies, anthropology, economics and climatology, often m...

9:00 - 15:00 | 6 hours
Heritage as an Agent of Change (Epistemologies, Ontologies, Teaching)Activists and Experts
Heritage as an agent of changeEpistemologiesOntologiesTeaching

The field of heritage has emerged as a key site of reflection. Influenced by shifts in the academy (e.g., post-colonial, post-structural and feminist theories), heritage scholars are bringing increased attention to the deployment of heritage as both a conceptual category and a contested field of power and discourse. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain in communicating what comprises the theoretical and methodological toolkit of heritage studies. Scholars are still mapping out the nuan...

13:30
13:30 - 15:00 | 1 hour 30 minutes
Changes in Heritage (New Manifestations)Notions of HeritagePublic event
Changes in heritageNew manifestations of heritageNotions of heritage

This proposal makes the case that heritage’s capacity for change may be dependent on a paradigm shift in how heritage is interpreted. With this paradigm shift in play, a question is then asked: Can authenticity be used as a design driver to resolve how best to incorporate the four pillars of sustainability in a building’s design? The proposal begins with a discussion about the difference between using heritage reactively and proactively. It then presents a brief introduction to the...

15:30
15:30 - 17:00 | 1 hour 30 minutes
Public event
Simultaneous translation - Traduction simultanée

Le patrimoine fait aujourd’hui l’objet d’attentions autant que d’agressions et de destructions. Cela peut s’expliquer par les difficultés de son identification ou de sa conservation. Cela peut plus profondément s’expliquer parce que, dès le départ, il célébre un événement ou conserve une mémoire qui peut être ou devenir une source de dissenssions et de conflits politiques. Enfin, sa reconnaissance suscite des gains économiques pour les uns mais des pertes pour les autres. Mais peut-être...

19:00
19:00 - 19:35 | 35 minutes
Public event

Directed by William Shewbridge and Michelle Stefano USA; 35 mins Presented by Michelle Stefano ___ After 125 years of operation, the Sparrows Point Steel Mill (Baltimore, Maryland) finally closed its doors in 2012. The film, “Mill Stories”, examines the importance of the mill from the perspectives of former workers and community members while connecting their story to the larger narrative of industrial boom and bust. The film seeks to amplify the voices of forme...

Tuesday 7 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
9:00
9:00 - 15:00 | 6 hours
Heritage as an Agent of Change (Epistemologies, Ontologies, Teaching)Notions of HeritageHeritage Changes Itself (Geographical and Linguistic Processes of Transformation)
Heritage changes itselfHeritage and geographyLinguistic transformation of heritageNotions of heritage

Heritage has multiple, concurrent origins. It is performed and produced by individuals, groups and organizations, or institutions on various scales. It is a transformative process and thus closely connected to the transitional. In heritage, transitionality may be usefully conceptualized under the rubric of the liminal, which at its core anticipates change and transformation, structure-agency relationships, affect, and human experience—all significant issues in recent theoretical debates in th...