World Cultures

Our collection includes artefacts from Ancient Egypt, Near Eastern archaeology (including Cyprus), ancient glass (600BC–c.AD600), a Chinese lacquer collection (200BC-c.1900), Tibetan tankhas (17th–19th centuries) and  Japanese prints (1750–20th century).

There are significant early North Athapaskan collections from the Canadian Subarctic collected by Scottish traders. There is also a collection from early exploration of the Pacific including material from Captain Cook’s voyages and the Challenger Expedition.

The Jean Jenkins collection of sound archives highlights her pioneering work in Africa, the Middle East and India gathering examples of native music in the 20th century.

The department is organised into four sections:

• Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology
• East and Central Asia
• South Asia and the Middle East
• Ethnographic Collections from Africa, Oceania and the Americas

World Cultures department

Henrietta Lidchi: Keeper of Department of World Cultures

Responsible for: the Department of World Cultures, its staff, projects and collections.
Research interests/expertise: North American collections, particularly American Southwest; Native American jewellery from the Southwest; visual anthropology; museology; cultural policy.

Friederike Voigt: Senior Curator, Middle East and South Asia

Responsible for: managing the Middle East and South Asia section, covering the Middle East, Iran, Turkey, Central Asia and the Indian cultural area. The collections include applied arts from Islamic cultures, metalwork, glass and ceramics as well as ethnographic and archaeological collections.
Research interests/expertise: Material Culture; Iran, especially Iranian tiles and ceramics.

Nicola Tayler: Assistant Curator, Middle East and South Asia

Also supports the work of the department.
Research interests: India and South East Asia, esp. Naga arms and warrior regalia, mythology and beliefs.

Kevin McLoughlin: Principal Curator, Central and East Asia

Responsible for: managing the Central and East Asia section, covering China, Japan, Korea and Tibet. The collections include important items of Chinese art, Ainu and prehistoric material from Japan, and ethnographic material from Tibet and Nepal.
Research interests/expertise: Chinese print and book culture; Ming period visual and material culture, Chinese Buddhism; and the display and interpretation of East Asia in the museum context.

Rosina Buckland: Senior Curator, East and Central Asia

Responsible for: working with and researching Japanese art collections.
Research interests/expertise: Late Edo period (1615-1868) and early Meiji era (1868-1912) art and culture, especially literati arts.

Chantal Knowles: Principal Curator, Oceania, Americas and Africa

Responsible for: the section covering Oceania, North America, Central and South America and Africa. The collections include objects from the voyages of Captain James Cook, Canadian First Nations, Pre-Columbian collections from South and Central America, early Polynesian artefacts and ethnographic material from West Africa.
Research interests/expertise: Pacific Collections in particular those from Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tahiti; early expeditions and Scottish collectors of ethnographic artefacts; and museum collecting practice and policy.

Ross Irving: Assistant Curator, Oceania, Americas and Africa and Ancient Mediterranean (temporary to December 2011)

Also supports the work of the department.

Sarah Worden: Curator, Africa Collections

Responsible for: collections from across sub-Saharan and North-east Africa.
Research interests: Textiles, clothing and adornment, especially Hausa of Northern Nigeria.

Principal Curator, Ancient Mediterranean (on hold)

Responsible for: managing the Mediterranean Archaeology section. The collections principally include important archaeological objects and groups from ancient Egypt, the Near East and Cyprus, and the classical civilisations of Greece and Rome.

Senior Curator, Ancient Mediterranean (post vacant)

Responsible for: the Ancient Mediterranean collections with emphasis on managing Ancient Egyptian collections.

Katharine Malcolm: Assistant Curator, Artistic Legacies Gallery (December 2011)

Supports the work of the Artistic Legacies gallery, as well as the work of the department.
Research interests: Decorative arts, historic and contemporary (esp. ceramics, jewellery and metalwork, calligraphy), North American collections.

Contact World Cultures