I am currently a PhD student at the University of Greenwich, and I have just submitted my thesis entitled ‘Archaeologies of Empire: British Archaeology in Palestine 1890-1930’. My thesis examines the history of British archaeology in Palestine in the context of wider British imperial engagement in Palestine. My thesis considers the silences and erasure which archaeology imposed upon Palestine in order to create an idealised, orientalist vision of Palestine as ‘the holy land’. I have researched the role of museums, exhibitions, the visual language of colonialism in photographs of archaeology in influencing the perception of Palestine in Britain.  

I am interested in the development of Archaeology and the political uses of heritage as part of colonial discourse. In my post-doctoral work, should I get a chance to actually undertake any given the current academic climate, I would like to expand on the themes of my thesis and examine the role of reception of the ancient world in British imperialist discourse.

My approach to research is interdisciplinary, drawing upon my background in archaeology, interest in archaeological theory and other approaches to studying the past such as critical studies, post-colonial theory, a study of space and place, and artistic and pop-culture engagements with the past.

I have a passion for widening participation in history and the humanities, I am interested in critical approaches such as history from below which challenge notions of who is an ‘historian’ and what ‘history’ is. Alongside PhD colleagues at the University of Greenwich I have co-developed a historiography module in which we have interrogated the many ways in which we approach the past.  I have worked on community history projects in the past and am hoping to develop plans to continue more collaborative work in future.  

My main areas of research interest are:

• The history of archaeology 
• The development of archaeology as a colonial discipline and the practice of imperialist archaeology in the Middle East, particularly Biblical Archaeology In Palestine. 
• Links between the Church, biblical archaeology and Colonialism 
• How the media was used by archaeologists and how the media used archaeology and archaeologists
• The political use of the past
• The ‘past in present’ – how we relate to the past and how the past is portrayed and received in the present

Research

University of Greenwich
PhD History 2018-present

A. M. Qattan Foundation
Research Assistant ‘Palestine from the Air’ 2019

University of Liverpool
MA Archaeology 2017

St Michael’s in the City, Liverpool
Community historian 2013-2014

University of Liverpool
BA(Hons) Archaeology of Ancient civilisations 2010