The project:
Applications are invited for a funded studentship on post-war collaborations between museums in Europe and West Africa. The award is made under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme and the project, to begin in October 2016, will be supervised Dr Claire Wintle, University of Brighton, and Dr John Giblin, the British Museum. The successful applicant will gain a unique opportunity to benefit from training and a placement at the British Museum, conduct research into its collections and archives, and carry out funded fieldwork in West Africa.
The project will examine professional interactions between museums in Europe and the decolonising nations of West Africa since 1945. It will focus on the history of the British Museum and how today’s transnational museum practice was formed in the context of mid-twentieth-century nationalism and the end of empire. The student will investigate the ways in which those in West Africa influenced the collections and interpretation of the British Museum at this time (and vice versa), how collaboration as professional practice changed over this period, and the legacy of this history in terms of collections care today.
The project will contribute to an emerging literature which recognises the influence of anthropologists and others from Africa on the practice of anthropology, shed light on an understudied period in museum history, and help develop historically informed guidance for collaborative museum anthropology today. The student will have the opportunity to refine these research questions, identify relevant further archives/collections/museums in the UK and Europe, and to define the nature of ‘collaboration’ via their investigations.
For a full description of the project, see: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/research/doctoral-centre-arts/studentships/collaborative-doctoral-partnership
Candidate requirements:
Applicants should have a good undergraduate degree in History, Art History, Anthropology, Museum Studies or another relevant discipline, satisfy AHRC eligibility requirements including Masters-level advanced research training or equivalent, and be able to demonstrate an active interest in museums, African and imperial history, and archival research. Applications from those who have previously studied African history will be welcomed but this is not essential.
Funding:
Subject to AHRC eligibility criteria, the scholarships cover tuition fees and a grant (stipend) towards living expenses. The value of the stipend for 2016/17 is yet to be confirmed. However, it is likely to be £14,296 plus £550 additional stipend payment for Collaborative Doctoral Students. For more information visit: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/skills/phdstudents/fundingandtraining. This studentship includes an additional six months funding to undertake training and a placement at the British Museum, as well as write executive summaries of the research to inform future collaborative projects in the museum sector.
How to apply:
For further details of eligibility and how to apply, see:
The deadline for applications is 5pm Thursday 7 April 2016.
Contacts:
Interviews will be held in London the week beginning 25 April 2016. For informal enquires please contact Dr Claire Wintle (c.wintle@brighton.ac.uk) or Dr John Giblin (JGiblin@britishmuseum.org).
- For more on the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award scheme, see here, and the AHRC Student Funding Guide.
- For more on the British Museum’s current Collaborative Doctoral Awards, see here.
- For more on the College of Arts and Humanities, University of Brighton, see here.
Deadline for applications: 5pm on Thursday 7th April 2016
