The Department of Archaeology invites applications for a PhD studentship linked to a Leverhulme International Professorship (awarded to Professor Emma Waterton). The successful applicant will be based in the soon-to-be-launched Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre, where they will become part of a collaborative team working on six dynamic and interrelated ‘axes’ of research: (1) Inclusions/Exclusions; (2) Colonial Legacies; (3) Mobilities and Materialities; (4) Anthropocene Encounters; (5) Cultures of Disaster and (6) Society-Nature Relations.
The advertised PhD studentship connects primarily with Axis 1, “Inclusions/Exclusions”, which explores the complex relations between heritage and society in contemporary Britain. In particular, this axis of work focuses on the way gender, ethnicity, class, education, and/or age influences participation in and management of heritage in Britain, as well as the way individuals see their own forms of knowledge and express their sense of belonging via their engagements with heritage.
Axis 1 builds from the assumption that knowledge of, access to, and participation in official forms of heritage in Britain is not evenly distributed. Indeed, a range of communities whose histories lie outside of the scope of official heritage continue to be silenced. The successful applicant is invited to explore and promote awareness of the role, contribution, influence, and impact of marginalised communities in challenging ideas of what constitutes heritage in Britain. The specifics of the research will be open for discussion once the candidate is recruited, but should engage primarily with the following objectives:
- To understand how official heritage practices generate forms of inclusion/exclusion.
- To develop rich and detailed insights into marginalised heritage practices in Britain.
- To identify the ways marginalised communities challenge what constitutes heritage in Britain.
- To co-produce, with marginalised communities, a suite of knowledges, activities and support mechanisms that will enhance the sustainability of currently marginalised notions of heritage.
- To co-produce, with marginalised communities, a range of strategies that will lead to more inclusive forms of heritage knowledge formation and participation.
Possible topics will be informed by gender and sexuality diversities, anti-colonial studies, disability studies, decolonial theory, black methodologies, intersectional experiences of belonging/exclusion, multiculturalism and cultural diversity, and/or community-based research.
The successful candidate’s primary task will be researching, writing, and defending their thesis. Additional outcomes will include academic publications and presentations, such as the co-delivery of papers at international conferences, the co-convening of at least one conference session and resultant publication/s, and the co-authoring of peer-reviewed journal articles. The successful candidate will be expected to be based in York.
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