Re-claiming Lost Landscapes Through Collaborative Ethnography

Nikki Waters, M.A.H.P. '22, will talk with program director, Melanie Lytle, M.A.H.P. '11, about how a collaborative ethnography approach to preservation practice can bring places with little to no tangible heritage back into the broader historical narrative and provide richer social, historical, and geographic contexts for places that retain robust tangible heritage. She will explain why a collaborative ethnography approach is beneficial to preservationists seeking a more people-centered focus.

Nikki Waters has been a practicing archaeologist since 1996, working for two universities, the Indiana SHPO and one private firm. She started her own consulting business in 2004 and began working in historic preservation in 2018. Her passion is finding ever better ways to make people-centered preservation a practical and attainable reality.