Event: WEDS TALKS: The Waystation Initiative: Framework, Achievements, and Future Goals

ABSTRACT: The Waystation Initiative, officially launched in the winter of 2023, aims to advance approaches to the stewardship of cultural heritage through interdisciplinary research and international collaboration. This presentation will examine the Initiative’s origins, objectives, achievements, and future directions. Professor Li Min will discuss the conceptual foundation and early development of the initiative, while Dr. Lyssa Stapleton will outline its structural framework, current goals, and long-term vision. Zichan Wang will provide insights into her role as the Waystation Graduate Student Researcher, her experiences as a certificate program student, and her work as the primary liaison with China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration. Together, their discussion will highlight the Initiative’s impact and its evolving role in preserving and restituting global cultural heritage.

BIOS: Li Min holds a Ph.D. in Archaeological Anthropology from the University of Michigan and is currently an Associate Professor of East Asian Archaeology in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. His primary research focuses on archaeology of prehistoric and the Bronze Age China, with particular interests in state formation, ritual performance, sacred landscape, and Bronze Age Eurasian interactions. His research also involves history of archaeological thought, the archaeology of early modern global trade, and the conservation of cultural heritage.

Lyssa C. Stapleton holds an MA and PhD in Archaeology from UCLA. In January 2023, she joined the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology as the Director of the Waystation Initiative and Administrator of the Graduate Certificate Program in Cultural Heritage Research, Stewardship, and Restitution. Dr. Stapleton’s research interests center on the evolution of institutional and private collections in the 20th and 21stcentury, with a particular focus on decolonization, stewardship, collaborative curation, and voluntary returns.

Zichan is a PhD candidate at the Cotsen Institute. She is an archaeologist studying social transformation in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age China. She has worked with the Waystation Initiative since 2023 as a GSR and as the liaison with Waystation's partners in China.