The University of Massachusetts Amherst Center for Heritage and Society is organising the international conference 'WHY DOES THE PAST MATTER? Changing Visions, Media, and Rationales in the 21st Century' to be held May 4-7, 2011 at the UMass Amherst Campus.

The goal of this conference is to bring together a wide range of academics, public officials, planners, educators, heritage professionals, and community leaders to examine the practical value of the past by means of a rigorous humanities and social science reexamination through five distinct thematic lenses: Identity, Culture, Ecology, Economics, and Civil Society.

Please register for this major event at which 225 speakers from 34 different countries will offer a paper organised in 43 panels and sessions. Also note the three plenary sessions to honour the contributions of Henry Cleere, Barbara Little, and David Lowenthal to public heritage philosophy, policy, and practice. All in all this conference promises to be an extraordinary international forum of innovative and challenging ideas.

Details and preliminary program at http://www.whydoesthepastmatter.org/