Lunchtime Speaker Series - Preservation in Contemporary Asia 1

Advanced Theory/Case Studies Lunchtime Speaker Series
Talk on Preservation in Contemporary Asia 1
Kecia Fong
Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, PennDesign; Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney

Kecia L. Fong is a conservation professional of the built environment. She has worked internationally as a conservation practitioner and educator for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, US National Park Service, and the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) among others. Her work in the field has addressed multiple scales and contexts from the revitalization of the historic Islamic core of Cairo; conservation of earthen plasters at ancient Puebloan sites in the American southwest; emergency conservation and stabilization of the ancient city of Zeugma, Turkey; to the conservation and adaptive use of 20th century architecture in North American cities. While at the GCI she was responsible for developing international education and training programmes for conservation of the built environment.  Her projects were primarily situated in North Africa, South East Asia, and Italy and were directed towards mid-career heritage conservation professionals.  She is currently consultant to the World Monuments Fund and Yangon Heritage Trust on issues pertaining to urban conservation, sustainable development, and the modernization of Yangon.  Her doctoral research is sited in Yangon and investigates how built heritage and its conservation are assembled, influencing, and reflecting narratives of identity, the globalization of professional conservation practice, and visions of urban modernity in the twenty-first century. She is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, and Associate Editor for Change Over Time: An International Journal of Conservation and the Built Environment.