Siân Jones
Professor of Archaeology
School of Arts, Histories and Cultures
Tel: 0161 275 3329 or x 53329
Email: sian.jones@manchester.ac.uk
Full Profile
Research Profile
My research explores the production of meaning, value and authenticity in relation to cultural heritage. I am especially interested in the materiality of monuments and places and the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage. I have carried out applied research focusing on the social value and conservation of objects and monuments in collaboration with heritage organisations, in particular Historic Scotland. I have also undertaken wider anthropological research on the relationship between cultural heritage and the production of memory, identity and place. My work is interdisciplinary combining archaeology, social anthropology, cultural history and material culture studies. I use qualitative research methodologies including interviewing and participant observation in conjunction with archival material, and material/landscape analysis. I have examined the social significance of prehistoric monuments, early medieval sculptured stones, recent historic sites of social memory, in particular those associated with the Highland Clearances, and open-air museums.
In the last 10 years, I have taken a biographical approach to objects, monuments and places examining their social lives, and their changing meaning and value over time. Here I have used the biography of monuments to explore wider themes concerning the role of material heritage in the context of modernity and the modern nation-state with particular emphasis on Scotland. My most extensive work in this area focused on the fascinating biography of the Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab; the fragmented social life of which reveals the relationships and tensions between the centre of the nation and its margins. See research projects below.
My most recent research project picks up on themes of displacement and fragmentation of communities and the implications for the production of cultural memory and the negotiation of authenticity. This project focuses on Scottish diaspora heritage sites in Nova Scotia, Canada, in particular, the Nova Scotia Highland Village Museum, a living history site focusing on Gaelic culture.
Relevant research projects
- Mediating the Past: an Ethnography of Heritage Conservation
- Heritage and Displacement: Negotiating Authenticity in a World of Movement, Nova Scotia Canada (2007-2010)
- Heritage, Identity and Place: the Biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Pictish Cross-slab (2001-2007)
- Social Value and the Conservation of Early Medieval Sculptured Stone (2001-2004)
Supervision Areas
Sian is interested in supervising research on:
- The role of monuments and landscapes in the production of meaning, value and place
- Memory and identity
- Authenticity and conservation
- Community Archaeology
- The production and negotiation of heritage values, in particular social value
- The role of the past in the construction of ethnic and national Identities
Current and Former PhD students
- Robert McCombe (Current), Gold Under Gravel, Gold Under Glass: Anglo-Saxon objects through excavation, collection and display.
- Robert Isherwood (2010), Community archaeology. A study of the conceptual, political and practical issues surrounding community archaeology in the United Kingdom today
- Helen Kristmanson (2008), Archaeology to Court: the use of archaeology in Aboriginal rights and title litigation
- Angela McClanahan (2006), Monuments in practice: the heart of Neolithic Orkney in its contemporary contexts
Relevant publications
- Jones, S. forthcoming (2010). Experiencing authenticity at heritage sites: some implications for heritage management and conservation. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 11 (2): 133-147
- Jones, S. forthcoming. Negotiating Heritage and Authenticity in the Diaspora: the Nova Scotia Highland Village Museum. Under review: International Journal of Heritage Studies.
- Jones, S. in press. Archaeology and the Construction of Community Identities. In M. Heyworth, M. Nevell and N. Redhead (eds) Archaeology for All. York: Council for British Archaeology.
- Jones, S. In press. "Sorting stones": monuments, memory, and resistance in the Scottish Highlands. In M. Beaudry and J, Symonds (eds) Interpreting the Early Modern World: Transatlantic Perspectives. New York: Springer.
- Jones, S. in press. Negotiating authentic objects and authentic selves: beyond the deconstruction of authenticity. Journal of Material Culture 15(2).
- Jones, S., Heather James, Sally Foster, Isobel Henderson (2008) A Fragmented Masterpiece: recovering the biography of the Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monographs.
- Jones, S. (2006) ''They made it a living thing didn't they': the growth of things and the fossilisation of heritage.' In R. Layton, S. Shennan and P. Stone, A Future for Archaeology: the past in the present, pp. 107-26. UCL Press.
- Jones, S. (2005) Making place, resisting displacement: conflicting national and local identities in Scotland. In J. Littler and R. Naidoo The Politics of Heritage: The legacies of 'race', pp. 94-114. Routledge.
- Jones, S. (2005) 'That stone was born here and that's where it belongs': Hilton of Cadboll and the negotiation of identity, ownership and belonging. In S. Foster and M. Cross (eds) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland's early medieval sculpture in the 21st century, pp. 37-53. Society for Medieval Archaeology.
- Jones, S. (2004) Early Medieval Sculpture and the Production of Meaning, Value and Place. Historic Scotland.
- Jones, S. (2000) Discourses of identity in the interpretation of the past. In, J. Thomas (ed.) Interpretive Archaeology: a reader, pp. 445-57. Leicester: Continuum Press.
- Jones, S., T. Kushner and S. Pearce (eds), (1998) Cultures of Ambivalence and Contempt: studies in Jewish - non-Jewish relations. London: Vallentine Mitchell.
- Jones, S., (1997) The Archaeology of Ethnicity: constructing identities in the past and the present. London: Routledge.
- Graves-Brown, P., S. Jones and C.S. Gamble (eds), (1996) Cultural Identity and Archaeology: the construction of European communities. London: Routledge.