PhD opportunities with Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Collecting Papua New Guinea; what, where, when, why, and how

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery has an extensive collection of material culture and archival material from Papua New Guinea collected from the 1920s until the 1980s by missionaries, colonial administrators, and aid development workers. It includes clothing, body adornment, ritual paraphernalia, domestic utensils, ceramics, musical instruments, and archival records.  The aim of the PhD is to enhance curatorial methodologies for collections interrogation and to challenge the role of museums in a post-colonial world. It will make a valuable contribution to understanding changing collection practices; material culture evolution in practice; the relationship between collections and archives; the role of the collector in cultural development of the source community; the role material culture plays in representing a society and the stories they tell about that society.

Academic Contact:  Dr Tamar Hodos, University of Bristol – t.hodos@bristol.ac.uk

Collections Contact: Lisa Graves, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery – Lisa.Graves@bristol.gov.uk

This is in partnership with the University of Exeter (contact: Professor Linda Hurcombe – L.M.Hurcombe@exeter.ac.uk)

For further information and how to apply visit the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership website.