In September 2019, I joined the staff of the Department as Anthropology as the first Lecturer in Museum Studies. Previously, I was a Teaching Fellow at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, where I inaugurated a collective focused on the development of Museum Studies pedagogy; PRISM.
Whilst I teach across the MLitt in Museum Studies, my primary focus has initially been on the development of a new course called Museums in the Digital World, which began in January. The course aims to instil ‘digital confidence’ in its students, allowing them to negotiate the varied potential of digital in the museum sector, and to understand technology as historically and culturally contextualised. I also teach Museum Histories and Cultural Contexts, and am hoping to expand my role on the course in the upcoming years. I am experienced in the development of Distance Learning programmes, and am looking to develop Museum Studies courses for online learning.
My research focuses, broadly speaking, on museum ontologies and identities (what they are, where their boundaries are, how and why they are culturally constructed); histories of museum practice; and cultural critique of the discipline of museology itself. My upcoming monograph, Time and the Museum presents a new way of looking at temporality in relation to the museum, utilizing literary and cultural theory as reflexive tools. In my next research project – which ties into my role as Honorary Curatorial Fellow at the University Museums – I will be exploring the cultures of documentation at Scottish University Museums, past and present.
Moving to Aberdeen (a 500-mile schlep North with Partner and Cats in tow) has been an eye opening and life changing experience. Working in an Anthropology department has given me new perspectives on my research, conceptually, but also in terms of the practice of research itself, and I have been fortunate to gather interesting, dedicated and vibrant colleagues working on projects around the world.
Thank you, Aberdeen, for welcoming me, and Happy 525th Birthday!
