World Cultures

Our World Cultures collections include internationally important material from across the globe.

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: 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: 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: 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.

Dr Rosina Buckland: Senior Curator, East and Central Asia

Responsible for: Working with and researching Japanese art collections.
Research interests: Japanese paintings and prints of the 18^th and 19^th centuries; erotic art (shunga) in its social and political context; Sinophile culture in Japan of the 19th century.

You can find out more about Dr Rosina Buckland here.

Chantal Knowles: Principal Curator, Oceania, Americas and Africa

Responsible for: Ethnographic and archaeological collections, from Africa, North and South America and the Pacific.
Expertise: Oceania in particular Papua New Guinea and the Arawe of West New Britain; Cook Voyage Collections; and early Dogrib / Tlicho artefacts.
Research interests: Colonial engagement and material culture exchange; Scottish diaspora in particular missionary and colonial collections with a current focus on Fiji; the 19th century Pacific diaspora in Scotland and Museum Histories.

You can find out more about Chantal Knowles here.

Ross Irving: Assistant Curator, Oceania, Americas and Africa and Ancient Mediterranean

Responsible for: Working with ethnographic and archaeological collections, from Africa, North and South America, the Pacific and the Ancient Mediterranean.
Research interests: Collectors and collecting. Currently researching Scottish Egyptologist Alexander Henry Rhind and the Museum’s ethnographic boat model collection.

You can find out more about Ross Irving here.

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.

Margaret Maitland: Curator, Ancient Mediterranean

Responsible for: The Ancient Mediterranean collections with emphasis on managing Ancient Egyptian collections.
Research interests: Middle Kingdom Egyptian culture, especially tomb decoration, tomb models, and literature; society and identity; the history of early Egyptology.

You can find out more about Margaret Maitland here.

Maggie Briggs: Departmental Administrator

Can be contacted on 0131 247 4230 m.briggs@nms.ac.uk