Research Activities
Drawing on archaeological, historical, and anthropological perspectives, my research explores the ways in which the past is choreographed in the present and, correspondingly, how the present is legitimised by the past. Recent projects have included: experiences of the material legacies of conflict (Falkland Islands, Belgium); cultural heritage destruction (Afghanistan, Mali, Ukraine); the past as a driver of contemporary conflict (Kenya, Somalia); changing understandings of heritage amongst semi-nomadic communities (Ethiopia, Kenya); cultural property protection (Georgia), and mutable religious identities in colonial settings (South Africa, Tanzania).
A range of funders have supported my research, including: Arts and Humanities Research Council; British Academy; Boise Fund, Oxford; British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi; Christensen Fund, San Francisco; Fell Fund, Oxford; McDonald Institute, Cambridge; and the Royal Anthropological Institute.
Project websites:
Falklands War Mapping Project: https://www.falklandswarmappingproject.uk
Climate Change & (In)Security Project: https://cciproject.uk
Mursiland Heritage Project: https://mursi-archaeology.com/about-the-project/about-the-project/
- Co-Director Endangered Heritage of the Global South (with Bill Finlayson, Oxford)
- Co-Director of the Falklands War Mapping Project (with Tony Pollard, Glasgow University)
- Co-Director of the Climate Change & (In)Security Project (with Ziya Meral, Centre for Historical and Conflict Research)
- Co-Director of the Heritage, Information and Conflict Project (with Mark Dunkley, Cranfield University)
- Co-Director of the Mursiland Heritage Project (with Marcus Brittain, University of Cambridge and Juan Salazar Bonet, Florida State University Valencia)
- Co-Director of the Roots of Divided Societies in the Horn of Africa Project (with Simon Mabon, Lancaster University)
