Peter comes to academia following a long career in international development. His work has always included a focus upon ‘sensitive’ subjects, such as sexuality, mental illness, the HIV epidemic, stigma, discrimination and violence.
Peter has worked with numerous international organisations, including INGOs, as well as bilateral and UN agencies. He has worked throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean and South America.
With a first degree in history and sociology, Peter completed a post-graduate diploma in psychosexual therapy. He also trained as an experiential group leader and facilitator, designing and leading a variety of professional development courses (and related materials) on themes including group relations, sexuality, counselling, prejudice and stigma.
Mid-career, Peter pursued a long-standing interest in anthropology and completed an M.Sc. at the University of Oxford in material anthropology. He went on to secure a doctoral research studentship in the material culture of health in South America, a collaboration between the University of London (Royal Holloway) and the Science Museum. The research took as its starting point the South American material collected by Sir Henry Wellcome, held on long-term loan by the Science Museum and including potentially controversial and sensitive material, such as human remains. The focus of the research was the poetics and politics of the display of human remains in three museum settings, respectively in Argentina, Peru and the UK. The politics of such displays highlight the need to consider issues of acquisition, recognition of possible harm, together with reparation.