Job title: Senior Lecturer, Visual Culture

Role: Director of Visual Culture

Tel: +44 (0)131 651 5885

Email: a.mcclanahan@ed.ac.uk

Office address: North-East Studio Building

Contact time: Tuesday, 2-4pm

Research: See Dr Angela McClanahan-Simmons on Edinburgh Research Explorer

Current PhD students

Shannon Rollins

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Rebecca Crowther

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PhD Supervision Topics

Accepting applications.

​Material culture; materiality/materialism; landscape and place; contemporary archaeology; anthropology and art.

​Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, my educational background is in archaeology and anthropology.  I was a University Teacher at Glasgow University from 2003-8, and a Lecturer in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at Leeds University in 2007-8 before taking up my current post at ECA. In addition to my teaching and research interests, I frequently write for art exhibitions and exhibition catalogues, I am a trustee for Rhubaba Gallery in Edinburgh, and am a member of the editorial collective of the peer reviewed journal Visual Culture in Britain.​

​Angela is course organiser for Material Cultures (Stage 3); Exploring Cultural Landscapes I: Field Lab (MSc); Things: New Materialisms (MA). She also contributes to Art Now (Stage 2), Visual Culture Research Project (Stage 4) and Art PhD Research Methods, as well as teaching on ethics in various capacities at ECA.

​​​​My primary research interests include examining how people engage with and construct meaning from the material world, and how the things and places we make and use are experienced, interpreted, ordered and displayed to construct narratives of historic and contemporary cultures in museums, galleries, landscape, bodily, contemporary art and cinematic contexts. I am also interested in ideas about the material culture of the recent and deep past, and their relationships to politics, displacement, presents and futures, and ethical practices in contemporary art and anthropology. 

McClanahan, Angela. 2018. Capital Ruins. Capital Ruins. Ashgate Publishing.
McClanahan, Angela. 2017. “The Factish Field”. In Towards A City Observatory. Collective Gallery.
McClanahan-Simmons, Angela. 2017. “Local Populations And Global Heritage (2020)”. In Encyclopedia Of Global Archaeology. Springer.
“The Archive On Detroit Mls 2020”. 2016. Book Works.
McClanahan, Angela. 2016. “Unsettled: Jennie Temple's Ethnographic Objects”. Ruined.
McClanahan, Angela. 2016. “Detroit Mls 2020”. The Happy Hypocrite. http://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/accumulator-plus-10th-november-2016.
McClanahan, Angela. 2015. “The Ethics Of Landscape”. In World Heritage, Tourism And Identity. Ashgate Publishing. https://www.routledge.com/World-Heritage-Tourism-and-Identity-Inscription-and-Co-production/Bourdeau-Gravari-Barbas/p/book/9781409470588.
McClanahan, Angela. 2014. “Archaeologies Of Collapse”. Visual Culture In Britain 15 (2).
McClanahan, Angela. 2014. “Introduction: Future North”. Visual Culture In Britain 15 (2).
McClanahan, Angela. 2014. “Anticipated Geographies”. Collective Gallery Exhibition Text: Bertille Bak, Faire Le Mur, 2014.
McClanahan, Angela. 2013. “Notes On Contemporary Art And Anthropology Part Ii: Conjuring The State”. Map: Journeys In Contemporary Art.
McClanahan, Angela. 2013. “Curating ‘Northernness’ In Neolithic Orkney”. Visual Studies 28 (3).
McClanahan, Angela, and Ysanne Holt. 2013. “Northern Peripheries”. Visual Studies 28 (3).
McClanahan, Angela. 2013. “Notes On Contemporary Art And Anthropology”. Map: Journeys In Contemporary Art.
McClanahan, Angela. 2013. “On Creative Mutuality, Gifts And Value”. In Tactile Narratives: The Sculptural Work Of Tobias Sternberg. Krupic Kersting Gallerie.
McClanahan, Angela. 2013. “Local Populations And Global Heritage”. In Encyclopedia Of Global Archaeology. Springer.
McClanahan, Angela. 2012. “Absent Presences”. In Kernel Panic Control. Galerija Galzenica.
McClanahan, Angela. 2011. “Re-Imagining Ruins”. In Framing The City. Manchester University.
McClanahan, Angela. 2011. “The Morality Of Landscape - World Heritage: Managing For The Local And Global Conference”. In .
McClanahan, Angela. 2011. “The Morality Of Landscape”. In Actes Du Colloque. Presses de l'Universite Laval.
McClanahan, Angela. 2010. “Historic Sites As Local, Regional And Universal Commons In Post-Devolution Scotland”. In American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting,.
McClanahan, Angela. 2010. “Conservation In Conflict: Cultures Of Historic And Environmental Sustainability In Scotland”. In Delivered At The Contemporary And Historic Archaeology In Theory Conference. University of Aberdeen.
McClanahan, Angela. 2010. “Capital Ruins: Meaning, Place And Abandoned Regeneration Sites In Edinburgh”. In Delivered In The History Of Art Research Seminar Series Programme, University Of Edinburgh. University of Edinburgh.
McClanahan, Angela. 2010. “The Ethics Of Landscape: The Case Of World Heritage In Post-Devolution Scotland’”. In Delivered At World Heritage: Managing For The Local And The Global Conference. Universite Laval, Quebec.
McClanahan, Angela. 2010. “The Stones Of Stenness: A Monumental Biography”. In Department Of Arts Visiting Speaker Programme. University of Northumbria.
McClanahan, Angela. 2009. “Grandmother Waits For You Exhibition Review”. Grandmother Waits For You.
McClanahan, Angela. 2008. “Curating Otherness, Capital And Community At The Stones Of Stenness: A Monumental Biography”. In Presented At Material Worlds: A Conference In Honour Of Professor Susan Pearce. University of Leicester.
McClanahan, Angela. 2007. “The Cult Of 'community'”. In Whose Past, Which Future?. Archaeopress.
McClanahan, Angela. 2007. “Constructing World Heritage: Strategies For Exploring Perceptions And Practices”. In World Heritage: Global Challenges, Local Solutions. Archaeopress.
McClanahan, Angela. 2006. “Histories, Identities And Ownership”. In Ethnographies Of Archaeological Practice. AltaMira Press.
McClanahan, Angela, and Sian Jones. 2005. “Qualitative Interviewing And Participant Observation”. The Heart Of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site Research Agenda. Historic Scotland.
McClanahan, Angela. 2004. The Heart Of Neolithic Orkney In Its Contemporary Contexts. The Heart Of Neolithic Orkney In Its Contemporary Contexts. Historic Scotland.