Research Interests

• Ireland
• Northern Ireland
• Museums
• Empire
• Colonialism
• Decolonisation
• Autoethnography
• Identity
• Visualities
• Epistemologies
• Affect
• Emotion
• Binaries

My research is on the legacies of empire and colonialism in Northern Ireland, and the role of museums in these debates. I seek to use public anthropology and social history to explore how contemporary identities connect with colonial collections. My interdisciplinary approach engages with both academic and museum research, including collaborating with living communities, and with historical perspectives represented within collections and archives.

I seek out close biographical reading that can be gathered from object documentation, from direct experiences of objects and from personal memories, in order to more fully understand the impacts of colonisers on Indigenous communities, and also to investigate conceptions about the colonial past. In my current research project, Museums, Empire and Northern Irish Identity, I try to locate knowledge about the colonial objects in Northern Ireland’s museums, to support community engagement with them, and to build collaborative partnerships leading to their fuller research.

My digital interests are in:

• Digital collections & exhibitions
• Digital catalogues
• Mapping / GIS
• Digitisation of artefacts and archives

Digital tools/platforms/software:

• NVivo
• ESRI
• ArcGIS
• Omeka / Omeka S
• NodeGoat

In addition to using digital tools in my ongoing research, I'm developing digital engagement platforms focusing on empire and colonialism including for growing the impacts of my current Fellowship, 'Museums, Empire and Northern Irish Identity'. 

Relevant projects

Museums, Empire and Northern Irish Identity

Affiliations

Centre for Public History

Institute of Irish Studies