Living Heritage Institute

What is Living Heritage?

Living Heritage describes the dynamic terrain of human experience, narrative, and embodied connections that combine to form stories that inform how we move through the world. Likewise, these stories expand what/how we see, trouble the status quo, and continually (re)present our shared humanity. At the LHI, 'living heritage' refers to our collective capacity in the present to honor the past through projects constructed with the future in mind.

Origin Story

The Living Heritage Institute was founded in 2023 by Dr. Antoinette Jackson as a vehicle for expanding the scope of contemporary heritage work that has been conducted at the USF Heritage Research Lab since 2006. With an eye towards a broader vision of what the lab could be, Dr. Jackson formed the LHI as a hub for building new approaches to heritage research by way of artistic collaborations, local partnerships, and multidisciplinary projects centered on the power of storytelling, creativity, and community.