Sophie Anderton
PhD studentResearch Overview
My PhD investigates the history and display of British military material culture, with a particular focus on the role of emotion in curatorial practice. In partnership with Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life, my research will develop a conceptual rationale and practical framework for the implementation of ¡®affective curatorship’. Through the purposeful mobilising of emotions to shape interpretation, could the significance of collections items be enhanced? Could ¡®affective curatorship’ give regimental museums a more meaningful way of engaging directly and deliberately with complex and varied emotional experiences, ¡®controversial histories’, and ¡®difficult’ objects? What are the opportunities and challenges in this? These are some of the questions I seek to address to enable a more nuanced and diverse history to be told.