UCL Institute of Archaeology

• MA, PhD
• Research Associate, EU-funded i-Treasures Project
• Honorary Research Associate, UCL Institute of Archaeology
  

Research Interests

• Cultural heritage and critical museology: cultural preservation; politics of recognition and representation; museum and heritage ethics; cultural property ownership
• Intangible heritage: UNESCO and the international framework; cultural performance as heritage and identity-work
• Participatory and relational museology: museums and Indigenous communities; bottom-up museum-work; community museology; alternative approaches to collections curatorship
• Museum and heritage ethnography: exhibition analysis and interpretation; examination of ethnographic displays and collections
• Heritage and development: cultural dimensions of development; local and traditional knowledge in development
• Qualitative research methods; multi-sited ethnography; interviews and oral history
• Fieldwork expertise: National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Vanuatu Cultural Centre, National Museum of the American Indian, Horniman Museum and Musée du Quai Branly.

Research Directory

• Between Preservation and Erasure
• Centre for Museums, Heritage and Material Culture Studies
• Intangible Heritage, Thailand
• Intangible Heritage, Qatar
• I-Treasures
  

Collaborations

• Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre and UNESCO Bangkok, Museums and Intangible Heritage Fieldschool, Lamphun, Thailand
• Heritage Academy fieldschool
• National Museum of Qatar (Oral History and Intangible Heritage)

Educational Background

• PhD, Museum and Heritage Studies, UCL, 2009
• MA, Cultural Heritage Studies, UCL, 2004
• BA, Performance and Theatre Studies, University of Athens, 2002
• Erasmus, History of Art, Utrecht University, 2001

• Book
• 2012. Intangible Heritage and the Museum: New Perspectives on Cultural Preservation. Critical Cultural Heritage Studies Series. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
• Articles
• 2013. with Denes, A., Chalermpow Koanantakool, P., Davis, P., Kreps, C., Hennessy, K., Stefano, M. Critical Reflections on Safeguarding Culture: The Intangible Cultural Heritage and Museums Field School in Lamphun, Thailand, Heritage and Society 6(1):4-23.
• 2012. Debating Heritage Authenticity: Kastom and Development at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, International Journal of Heritage Studies18(2):124-43.
• 2012. The Paradoxes of Intangible Heritage. In: Stefano, M. et al. (eds.) Touching the Intangible. Heritage Matters Series. London: Boydell & Brewer, 9-22.
• 2011. Intangible Heritage and Erasure: Rethinking Cultural Preservation and Contemporary Museum Practice, International Journal of Cultural Property 18(1): 37-60
• 2010. Μουσείο και Άυλη Κληρονομιά: Μαθήματα από τον Νοτιο-Δυτικό Ειρηνικό, Τετράδια Μουσειολογίας 7: 30-37
• 2010. Intangible Heritage: Dying Folklore or Contemporary Identities? In: Lira, S. and Amoeda, R. (eds.) Constructing Intangible Heritage. Barcelos; Po: Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development.
• 2010. Intangible Heritage and the Performance of Identity. In: Jackson, A. and Kidd, J. (eds) Performing Heritage. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 82-93.
• 2008. The politics of ‘arts premiers’: Some thoughts on the Musée du Quai Branly, Museological Review 13: 44-56.
• 2008. Contextualising Intangible Heritage in Heritage Studies and Museology, International Journal of Intangible Heritage 3: 44-54.
• 2007. Intangible Cultural Heritage: A New Universal Museological Discourse? Humankind 3: 41-50.
• 2007. The UNESCO Programme for the Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, Journal of Museum Ethnography 19: 34-42.
• 2006. Museums and Intangible Heritage: The Dynamics of an Unconventional Relationship, Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 17: 47-57.

Current students

• Emma Ayling Participation, locality, belonging: Rethinking museum communities and community museums (principal supervisor Paul Basu)
• Nicole Defeul Delivering public benefit through heritage management and interpretation in England and Germany (principal supervisor Beverley Butler)