The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is among the most prestigious international platforms for the presentation of new work on Roman history and culture. The Jerome Lectures are presented at both the American Academy in Rome and the University of Michigan. In 2021, the forty-eighth year of the lecture series, Lynn Meskell (2015 Resident), Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Historic Preservation in the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss the ethics of global heritage and archaeology.

This series, entitled The Ethics of Heritage and Archaeology in Global Perspective, addresses the role of archaeology and heritage within international networks of social and political change from the legacies of colonialism, to Cold War tensions, to the era of neoliberalism. The lectures reveal how the discovery and salvage of sites worldwide has mobilized government, military, and corporate interests, in what Meskell describes as a form of archaeological adventurism. Employing case studies from the Middle East, India, and Europe, Meskell attempts to uncover the dense network of social, political, and economic agendas that are at play in preserving the past.

This series includes four lectures given on different dates. All events will be held at 4:00 p.m. in Palmer Commons, Forum Hall.

Monday, March 28 - Engineering Internationalism: Colonialism, the Cold War and UNESCO’s Victory in Nubia

Wednesday, March 30 - Imperialism, Internationalism and Archaeology in the Un/Making of the Middle East

Friday, April 1 - Saving the World? Reflections on UNESCO’s Mid Century Mission in Conflict

Monday, April 4 - Developing Petra: UNESCO, the World Bank, and America in the Desert

Lynn Meskell is a Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, a Richard D. Green Professor of Anthropology, Professor of Historic Preservation in the Weitzman School of Design, a curator at the Penn Museum, and an AD White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.

If you are unable to join us in person, please register for webinars using the links below:

Lecture #1 - https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_R1uK4q9CR5mXXn1jjdvV6A

Lecture #2 - https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kFiLQTHyR42kmMuMGjjtnQ

Lecture #3 - https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RnBbnQ6SQU6nx_E2Xh6iCg

Lecture #4 - https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o6g4msaDQBKPFuvMr4iPpQ