PhD Opportunity: Reframing Oceania: towards new narratives of the colonial Pacific in the British Museum

A Collaborative Doctoral Partnership studentship between the British Museum and UCL, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council

Start date: 1st October 2019


Application Deadline: 12 April
Interviews will take place on 24 April

Supervisors
Dr Gaye Sculthorpe (British Museum)

Prof. Margot Finn (UCL)

Project Overview

This PhD project will interrogate archives, objects and images in the British Museum pertaining to Oceania to identify what new stories emerge and consider how these histories of the colonial Pacific could be constructed and publicly presented. Attentive to individual histories and Indigenous agency, the project will promote new perspectives on the distinctive histories of Pacific Islanders and their relationship with other parts of the world, particularly Britain. The emphasis will be on the period c.1820-1920.

This project aims to go beyond research focused only on specific places, object types, or specific collectors to consider how the ensemble of resources about these collections can be interrogated to generate new narratives. It will address inter-relationships and broad themes relevant across the Pacific, and can draw on examples from any place, group of people, or object. There will be room for the student to shape the research within this broad context.

As well as opportunities for working with the collections in London, there will be networking opportunities to work with colleagues and communities in Oceania as well as at the British Museum.

Full details and information about how to appy can be found on the UCL website.