Biography

My fascination with the relationship between repatriation and emotion is long-standing but was greatly reinforced by my experience managing the establishment and delivery of restitution initiatives in the Australian university sector. My time as a practitioner prompted me to reconsider the nature, role and impact of non-Indigenous actor emotions on processes of provenance and return: the lingering heartache of setting aside the unprovenanced skeletal remains of a child; the couching of obstructiveness in the language of objectivity; the cautious optimism between researchers and First Nations communities following a handover. By acknowledging and engaging with these emotional registers, I believe that more authentic opportunities for inter-community reconciliation and intra-community empowerment can be identified. With the generous support of Gates Cambridge, I aim to provide practitioners with a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the emotional dynamics within and between their institutions and the communities they seek to represent.

Previous Education

Australian National University Repatriation: Principles, Poli 2021
Australian National University Archaeological Practice 2020