James Green Scholarship, Sussex

The James Henry Green PhD scholarship is available to
students wishing to pursue doctoral research within the Department of Art
History at the University of Sussex. The three-year scholarship covers
University tuition fees* and an annual book award of £1000.

Deadline 27 April 2012

The scholarship is offered by the James Henry Green Charitable Trust through the James Green Centre for World Art at Royal Pavilion & Museums (RP&M), Brighton & Hove. The purpose of the award is to build and share knowledge about RP&M’s rich holdings of material and visual culture from Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Americas. For this reason the main requirement of the award is that the proposed doctoral research project considers some aspect of the World Art collection. Other requirements include a yearly report and, at some point during the scholarship, a public outcome for staff and visitors to Brighton Museum & Art Gallery (for example a talk, display or web article about the research project). The scholarship-holder is also expected to make a presentation on the subject of their doctoral research to the Trustees of the James Henry Green Charitable Trust at one of their annual general meetings during their tenure of the scholarship.

The World Art collection

The World Art collection is a Designated** collection of over 12,000 objects and images from Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Americas. The collection encompasses objects in a wide range of media and represents many different geographies and time periods; from Peruvian archaeological textiles to late 20th-century barbers’ signboards from Kenya. Many items in the collection were sold or donated by people associated with Britain’s former colonies and so these areas are particularly well represented. West Africa and South and South East Asia, for example, are areas of strength but the collection also includes important and rare material from southern Africa, China, North America and the Pacific.

Possible approaches

While research proposals which take a traditional object-based approach to the collection will be welcomed, work which situates the material in wider contexts is also encouraged. This might include researchwhich addresses:

• the complex networks of dealers, salerooms and collectors, which, particularly in the late 19th century, enabledmuseums such as that at Brighton to accumulate collections of ‘non-western’ material
• changing modes for the display and interpretation of ‘non-western’ material culture
• the role of particular individuals in forming collections and displays
• the role of historic collections in the context of contemporary cultural politics
• how collections material functioned in its ‘original’ context(s), for example items made for courtly or religious use
• issues of post-colonialism
• issues around gender or class and collecting

Further information

The Keeper and Curator of World Art are happy to facilitate access to collections and collections information for those individuals looking to develop a research proposal. Selection of the scholarship-holder will be made by the Department of Art History at the University of Sussex so enquiries regarding application should be made there.

Helen Mears, Keeper of World Art

t: 01273 292863

e: helen.mears@brighton-hove.gov.uk

History of Art University of Sussex contact

Fiona Allan, Research and Enterprise Coordinator

t: 01273 876612

e: f.m.allan@sussex.ac.uk

Dr Geoff Quilley, Senior Lecturer in Art History

t: 01273 876627

e: g.quilley@sussex.ac.uk

* International students are welcome to apply for the
scholarship but we regret that we can only pay the equivalent of ‘home’ student
tuition fees.

** The Designation scheme was launched in 1997 by
Resource (then Museum, Libraries & Archives Council, now Arts Council
England) to identify and celebrate the pre-eminent collections of national and
international importance held in England's non-national museums.

Information about applying for the scholarship can be downloaded from here:

The James Henry Green History of Art PhD Scholarship [DOC 62.00KB]