The CAER Heritage Project: Co-production with Disadvantaged Communities
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-06-15

The CAER Heritage Project has developed from humble beginnings in 2011 to be a major community heritage project. Focussed on the electoral wards of Caerau and Ely, two economically deprived, but heritage rich, suburbs of Cardiff, Wales, the project is a thriving collaboration between university academics, heritage professionals, community development workers and local schools and communities. From the outset, the project has been steeped in co-productive ideals and principles with the aim of addressing contemporary social and economic challenges through active participation in heritage, and particularly archaeological, research.
The journey from project birth to maturity has been rewarding, but also challenging. As the winner of two recent community archaeology awards (Times Higher Education Awards 2017: Outstanding Contribution to Local Community; National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement Engage Competition 2014 Award: Overall Winner), we now occupy a national stage. By drawing from the different perspectives of academics, community development workers and participants, this paper will use CAER as a case study to examine the potentials and problems of co-production of research with disadvantaged communities.

Oliver Davis and Dave Wyatt (Cardiff University)

TAG Deva 2018
Session: Archaeology for Change