Congratulations to Dr Rachael Kiddey as she travels to Missouri this January to receive the Society for Historical Archaeology's prestigious James Deetz Award for her recently published book Homeless Heritage at their annual conference.
The Deetz Award is named for James Deetz (1930–2000), whose books are classics for professional archaeologists as well as for non-specialists. Deetz's accessible and entertaining style of writing give his books influence beyond the discipline, because they are read by a broad audience of non-specialists. The Deetz Award is intended to recognize books and monographs that are similarly well written and accessible to all potential readers.
Rachael Kiddey is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship researcher based at the School and her current project is called ‘Migrant Materialities’, which focuses on the role that material culture – objects and visual culture – plays in experiences of forced displacement in Europe. Her research combines anthropological and archaeological approaches to the contemporary past, incorporating: 1) a focus on the development of participatory and collaborative methods for engaging diverse publics in cultural heritage work, and: 2) a keen interest in the ways in which cultural heritage approaches to contemporary social issues can enhance advocacy and improve policy. You can follow her blog here.