University of Cambridge

Graduate Student, Archaeology

Thesis Title: Decentered Archaeology: Disciplinary Expertise and Public Engagement in the Contemporary Archaeology Museum

About

My Ph.D. research aims to determine what the role of the archaeological expert (or disciplinary expert more generally) should be in contemporary society. This will be explored through the current renegotiation of museum curators' expertise, utilizing two archaeology museum exhibitions (at Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and SUNY Buffalo's Anderson Gallery) and archaeology museums' online social media activities as a particular focus.

Although I will draw on literature from a variety of disciplines and fields (such as archaeology, anthropology, heritage studies, the sociology of expertise, and new media studies), my thesis is ultimately rooted in the trend towards decentering the production and control of archaeological knowledge (e.g. Cowell-Chanthaphonh and Ferguson 2008; Wylie 2009), as well as the movement towards more socially relevant and engaging museums (e.g. Peers and Brown 2003; Sandell 2007).

I aim to identify whether the presentation of a decentred discipline is tenable in museums, which are still regarded as the spaces within which archaeological 'facts' are displayed.

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I am currently the secretary of the Archaeological Review from Cambridge - http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/arc/ and have edited a themed volume on Collaborative Archaeology (volume 26.2, 2011).

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