Helen Rawling
PhD student
email: h.rawling@qmul.ac.ukSchool of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Research interests:
My research interests include cultural geography, arts practice, geographies of museums and collections, the post-museum, place-making, memory, heritage studies, contested spaces and places, geographies of peace and reconciliation, performance, more-than-representational geographies
PhD Research:
My research is broadly concerned with the place of arts practices and museums in post-conflict situations and divided societies. I employ a cultural geographical perspective to explore how places and spaces are negotiated, transformed, and continually brought into being. My work is inter-disciplinary, drawing insights from performance studies, peace studies, arts practice and non-representational theory.
Ivuka Arts, Kigali
Life taking shape: arts practices for engaging with the past in post-genocide Rwanda
This project is concerned with how life carries on after devastating events like the genocide in Rwanda, and the possibilities for a better future. My particular interest is where arts practices (curating, performance, theatre, fine art etc) are brought into the process and used for engaging with difficult pasts. Attending to arts practices presents a particular opportunity to witness some of the ways that people negotiate notions of self, society, place, the past and the present, and enhances understanding of the myriad ways that life takes shapes. Appreciating such processes are critical for comprehending the possibilities for the future and being able to envision and construct positive forms of peace and reconciliation.
In this project I will be collaborating with several institutions and groups in Rwanda, including the Kigali Memorial Centre.
Kigali Memorial Centre
Supervisors:
Professor Catherine Nash and Dr Bronwyn Parry, QMUL
Membership:
I am a member of the Royal Geographical Society (www.rgs.org), the International Council of Museums (http://icom.museum/) and the Peace and Collaborative Development Network (http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/)
Background:
Prior employment has included work in galleries, design studios and a conservancy in Kenya.
MA Curating; Kingston University and the Design Museum, London (2005–2006)
Dissertation: ‘New Museum Practice: The emergence of reconciliation museums 1996–2006’
BA Geography; University of Cambridge (2001–2004)
Presentations:
- ‘Place and space in site-specific memorial museums; implications for reconciliation?’ presented at the Queen Mary PhD Conference, June 2011
- ‘The Contentious Museum’ presentation and panel member at the 6th Biennial University Museums in Scotland, November 2009
Performances:
- Whitley Art Trail, October 2011
- UCL Cities Methodologies symposium, May 2011
- Surplus to Requirements, Slade Research Centre, March 2011