38. Conservation in the 21st Century with Sanchita Balachandran - a podcast by Ian Elsner

Image: Sanchita Balachandran. Photo Credit: James Rensselaer.

Sanchita Balachandran, Associate Director of theJohns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, hopes to see the field of conservation develop into more of a social process, rather than simply a technical one.

Fromher 2016 talk at the American Institute for Conservation’s Annual Meeting, to teaching her students how to interrogate an object in person, to herUntold Stories project, Balachandran has thought critically about the role of conservators. In this epsiode, Balachandran talks about her early formative experiences in the field of conservation and how whether or not someone’s history is worth preserving is a deeply political decision.

Topcis Discussed:
00:00: Intro00:14: Sanchita Balachandran
00:30: What Does a Conservator Do?03:10: Early Formative Experiences
03:35: The Needs of Objects05:35: Race, Diversity and Politics in Conservation: Our 21st Century Crisis (http://www.conservators-converse.org/2016/05/race-diversity-and-politics-in-conservation-our-21st-century-crisis-sanchita-balachandran/)
10:30: Objects vs. Data13:03: Outro

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