Professor Sian Jones

Professor of Heritage

History University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor Sian Jones

Contact details

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http://www.stir.ac.uk/people/sianjones

About me

I am an interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in cultural heritage, as well as on the role of the past in the production of power, identity, and sense of place. I grew up in the Isle of Man and was educated there, later becoming a student at the University of Southampton, where I obtained a BA (Hons) in Archaeology. I stayed at Southampton for my PhD, which focused on archaeology, ethnicity and the modern nation-state under the supervision of the late Professor Peter Ucko. Following copletion of my PhD, I was appointed to a 3-year post-doctoral position at the Parkes Centre for the Study of Jewish - non-Jewish Relations (1994-1996). In 1997, I held a visiting lectureship at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil (funded by the São Paulo State Research Council and the British Council), where I worked with Professor Pedro Funari. On my return I briefly worked for the Council for British Archaeology. I was appointed at the University of Manchester in 1998, where I remained until April 2016. I have presented lectures and papers around the world (including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Latvia, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark).

I am an interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in archaeology, history and social anthropology, with a particular emphasis on the fields of heritage and museum studies. I draw on theoretical and methodological approaches from across these disciplines, and I work with a range of sources: material, textual, visual and ethnographic.

My research interests include: heritage, identity and the modern nation-state; monuments, memory and place; the cultural biography of objects, monuments and landscapes; heritage management and conservation, authenticity and social value; the material, social and environmental history of urban public parks; and community archaeology/heritage.

A significant strand in my work focuses on place–making, where I combine archaeological, historical and ethnographic research to explore how people sustain relationships with place, through time. This research intersects with my research on cultural heritage, which encompasses cultural significance, social and communal values, authenticity, conservation practice, replicas and reconstructions, and community heritage.

My monographs include: The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in Past and Present (1997); Early Medieval Sculpture and teh Production of Meaning, Value and Place (2004); A Fragmented Masterpiece: The Biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Cross-Slab (2008, with H. James, S. Foster & I. Henderson); My Life as a Replica (2020, with S. Foster); The Object of Conservation: An Ethnography of Heritage Practice (2022, with T. Yarrow).

I have co-supervised doctoral projects on topics such as: the historiography of Armenia and its impact on the Western imagination; Cold War heritage and museology; childhood and the and the materiality of Victorian public parks; the collection, curation and representation of museum objects/collections; heritage conservation and management (especially in respect to social values and authenticity); and several PhDs on community/indigenous archaeology and heritage.

I am interested in co-supervising doctoral students in any of my areas of expertise.

Divisional / Faculty Contribution

Head of Heritage
Acting head of subject supporting Head of Division

Programme Director, BA (Hons) Heritage and Tourism
https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/ug/heritage-tourism/

External Examiners and Validations

External Reviewer, Periodic Review of Humanities Programmes, University Highlands & Islands

One off appointment (complete)

External Examiner, MA in Heritage Management, University of York

Four year appointment (2012-2016)

External Examiner, MA in Cultural Heritage Studies, UCL

Four year appointment (2016-2021)

External Reviewer for Centre for Critical Heritage Studies, University of Gothenburg

https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/70913
Complete (one off appointment)

External Examiner, MA in Landscape Archaeology and Heritage, NUI Galway
https://www.nuigalway.ie/…archaeology.html
Three year role, appointed in 2022.

Other Academic Activities

Member of the Academic Advisory Group for A Culture Strategy for Scotland

https://www.gov.scot/…rategy-scotland/
Two year role (2017-2018)

Member UKRI/AHRC Peer Review College

Four year appointment (2017-2021)

Director of the Heritage Hub, Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities
https://www.sgsah.ac.uk/e_t/ke-hubs/heritage/

Member of the Peer Review of Estates Panel for Historic Environment Scotland
Historic Environment Scotland
Ongoing since 2018

Studentship Panel for Collaborative Doctoral Awards, Scottish Graduate School in Arts and Humanities
Periodic alternating role

Professional membership

Association for Critical Heritage Studies (Member)

ICOMOS UK (member)

World Archaeological Congress (member)

University Contribution

Academic Lead, Cultural Heritage Research Programme
https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/research-programmes/

Director of the Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy
https://www.stir.ac.uk/…itageand-policy/

Research projects (6)

Social values of NTS heritage places: towards an organisational approach
PI: Professor Sian Jones
Funded by: The National Trust for Scotland
–

Destructive Exploitation of Cultural Objects and Professional/Public Education for sustainable heritage management
PI: Professor Sian Jones
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council
–

Curating Sustainable URBAn Transformations through HERItage
PI:
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council
–

Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage (NIKU) Visiting Research Fellowship
PI: Professor Sian Jones
Funded by: Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research
–

Concrete and non-concrete: an ethnographic study of the contemporary value and authenticity of historic replicas
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: Historic Environment Scotland
–

Concrete and non-concrete: an ethnographic study of the contemporary value and authenticity of historic replicas
PI: Professor Sally Foster
Funded by: The Royal Society of Edinburgh
–

Outputs (77)

Book Chapter

The concrete and non-concrete

Foster S & Jones S (2020) The concrete and non-concrete. In: My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona. Oxford: Windgather Press / Oxbow Books, pp. 1-4. https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/my-life-as-a-replica.html

Authored Book

My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona

Foster S & Jones S (2020) My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona. Oxford: Windgather Press / Oxbow Books. https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/my-life-as-a-replica.html

Other

Rethinking replicas

Foster S & Jones S (2020) Rethinking replicas. Collections Trust [Blog Post] 27.08.2020. https://collectionstrust.org.uk/blog/rethinking-replicas/

Newspaper / Magazine

My Life as a Replica

Foster S & Jones S (2020) My Life as a Replica [St John's Cross replica 50th anniversary]. History Scotland, 20(3). 10.04.2020, pp. 37-39.

Commentary

Contesting the Center

Pocock C & Jones S (2017) Contesting the Center. Heritage & Society, 10 (2), pp. 99-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159032x.2018.1457301

Other

Growing old gracefully?

Douglas-Jones R, Hughes J, Jones S & Yarrow T (2015) Growing old gracefully?. Focus, (2015), pp. 32-33. http://conservation.historic-scotland.gov.uk/focus-magazine-2015.pdf

Conference Paper (published)

The ACCORD project: Archaeological Community Co-Production of Research Resources

Jeffrey S, Hale A, Jones C, Jones S & Maxwell M (2015) The ACCORD project: Archaeological Community Co-Production of Research Resources. In: Giligny F, Djindjian F, Costa L, Moscati P & Robert S (eds.) CAA2014 21st Century Archaeology: Concepts, methods and tools. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. 42nd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, CAA2014, Paris, 22.04.2014-25.04.2014. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 289-295. http://www.archaeopress.com/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7BE35F9954-5653-493D-884B-4A7D2DE66610%7D

Book Chapter

Archaeology and the construction of community identities

Jones S, Nevell M & Redhead N (2015) Archaeology and the construction of community identities. In: Nevell M & Redhead N (eds.) Archaeology for All: Community Archaeology in the Early 21st Century: Participation, Practice and Impact. University of Salford Applied Arcaheology Series Volume 2. Manchester, UK: University of Salford, pp. 3-14.

Conference Paper (published)

'Parks for the People': The Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project

Jones S, Cobb H, Giles M & Colton R (2014) 'Parks for the People': The Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project. In: Khreisheh A & Booth N (eds.) All That Glistens: will 2012 be a golden year for museum archaeology?. Museum Archaeologist, 35. Society of Museum Archaeologists Annual Conference 2012, Manchester. Colchestert: SMA Publications, pp. 23-31.

Book Chapter

Ucko, Peter (Cultural Heritage Management)

Jones S (2014) Ucko, Peter (Cultural Heritage Management). In: Smith C (ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. New York: Springer, pp. 7398-7402. https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-0465-2

Book Chapter

Monumental risk: megalithic quarrying at Staneyhill and Vestra Fiold, Mainland, Orkney

Richards C, Brown J, Jones S, Hall A & Muir T (2013) Monumental risk: megalithic quarrying at Staneyhill and Vestra Fiold, Mainland, Orkney. In: Richards C (ed.) Building the Great Stone Circles of the North. Oxford: Windgather Press/Oxbow Books, pp. 119-148. https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/building-the-great-stone-circles-of-the-north.html

Book Chapter

Ethnicity: Theoretical Approaches, Methodological Implications

Jones S (2008) Ethnicity: Theoretical Approaches, Methodological Implications. In: Bentley R, Maschner H & Chippindale C (eds.) Handbook of Archaeological Theories. Lanham, MD, USA: Altamira Press, pp. 321-333. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759100336/Handbook-of-Archaeological-Theories

Book Chapter

Recovering the biography of the Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab

Foster S & Jones S (2008) Recovering the biography of the Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab. In: James H, Henderson I, Foster S & Jones S (eds.) A Fragmented Masterpiece. Recovering the Biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Pictish Cross-slab. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, pp. 205-284. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/sas_books_2016/bookcontents.cfm?mono=1369067

Book Chapter

Discourses of identity in the interpretation of the past

Jones S (2007) Discourses of identity in the interpretation of the past. In: Insoll T (ed.) The Archaeology of Identities: A Reader. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis, pp. 44-58. https://www.routledge.com/The-Archaeology-of-Identities-A-Reader/Insoll/p/book/9780415415026

Book Chapter

Making place, resisting displacement: conflicting national and local identities in Scotland

Jones S (2006) Making place, resisting displacement: conflicting national and local identities in Scotland. In: Smith L (ed.) Cultural heritage: critical concepts in media and cultural studies, Volume 4. Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, pp. 150-173. https://www.routledge.com/Cultural-Heritage-Critical-Concepts-in-Media-and-Cultural-Studies/Smith/p/book/9780415352420

Book Chapter

Artefacts, monuments and cultural identity

Jones S & Richards C (2005) Artefacts, monuments and cultural identity. In: Downes J, Foster S & Wickham-Jones C (eds.) The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site: Research Agenda. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, pp. 80-86.

Book Chapter

Qualitative Interviewing and Participant Observation

Jones S & McClanahan A (2005) Qualitative Interviewing and Participant Observation. In: Downes J, Foster S & Wickham-Jones C (eds.) The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site Research Agenda. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, pp. 117-118.

Book Chapter

'That stone was born here and that's where it belongs': Hilton of Cadboll and the negotiation of identity, ownership and belonging

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: Foster S & Cross M (eds.) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland’s Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century. Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs, 23. Edinburgh: Society for Medieval Archaeology, pp. 37-54. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/catalogsearch/result/?q=Able+minds

Book Chapter

Sample research topics: artefacts, monuments and cultural identity

Jones S & Richards C (2005) Sample research topics: artefacts, monuments and cultural identity. In: Downes J, Foster S, Wickham-Jones C & Callister J (eds.) The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site Research Agenda. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, pp. 122-126. http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/ebook/p/2005/historic_scotland/www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/orkney_research_agenda_-_prelims.pdf

Book Chapter

The Villagers of Barnhouse

Jones S & Richards C (2005) The Villagers of Barnhouse. In: Richards C (ed.) Dwelling Among the Monuments: the Neolithic village of Barnhouse, Maeshowe passage grave and surrounding monuments at Stenness, Orkney. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge, UK: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, pp. 195-204. https://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/publications/publication-images/table%20of%20contents/dwelling-toc; https://doi.org/10.3366/saj.2005.27.1.95

Research Report

From the Ground Up: the publication of archaeological projects (Full report)

Jones S, MacSween A, Jeffrey S, Morris R & Heyworth M (2001) From the Ground Up: the publication of archaeological projects (Full report). Jones S (Editor), MacSween A (Editor), Jeffrey S (Editor), Morris R (Editor) & Heyworth M (Editor) Council for British Archaeology. The Council for British Archaeology.

Book Chapter

Discourses of identity in the interpretation of the past

Jones S & Thomas J (2000) Discourses of identity in the interpretation of the past. In: Thomas J (ed.) Interpretive Archaeology: A Reader. Leicester: University of Leicester Press, pp. 445-457. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X-aXzrF3l58C&pg=PR5&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

Book Chapter

Neolithic Cultures in Orkney: Classification and Interpretation

Jones S & Richards C (2000) Neolithic Cultures in Orkney: Classification and Interpretation. In: Ritchie A (ed.) Neolithic Orkney and its European Context. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, pp. 101-106.

Book Chapter

Historical categories and the praxis of identity: The interpretation of ethnicity in historical archaeology

Jones S (1999) Historical categories and the praxis of identity: The interpretation of ethnicity in historical archaeology. In: Funari P, Hall M & Jones S (eds.) Historical Archaeology: Back from the Edge. One World Archaeology, 31. London: Routledge, pp. 219-232. https://www.routledge.com/Historical-Archaeology-Back-from-the-Edge/Funari-Hall-Jones/p/book/9780415518888; https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203208816

Book Chapter

Introduction: Archaeology in history

Funari PP, Jones S & Hall M (1999) Introduction: Archaeology in history. In: Funari P, Hall M & Jones S (eds.) Historical Archaeology: Back from the Edge. One World Archaeology, 31. Routledge: London and New York, pp. 1-20. https://www.routledge.com/Historical-Archaeology-Back-from-the-Edge/Funari-Hall-Jones/p/book/9780415518888; https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203208816

Edited Book

Historical Archaeology: Back from the Edge

Funari PP, Hall M & Jones S (eds.) (1999) Historical Archaeology: Back from the Edge. One World Archaeology, 31. London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Historical-Archaeology-Back-from-the-Edge/Funari-Hall-Jones/p/book/9780415518888

Edited Book

Jewish Local Patriotism and Self-Identification in the Graeco-Roman World

Jones S & Pearce S (eds.) (1998) Jewish Local Patriotism and Self-Identification in the Graeco-Roman World. Journal for the Study of the Pseudopigrapha Supplement Series. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/jewish-local-patriotism-and-self-identification-in-the-graeco-roman-period-9781850758327/

Book Chapter

Identities in Practice: Towards an Archaeolgical Perspective on Jewish Identity in Antiquity

Jones S (1998) Identities in Practice: Towards an Archaeolgical Perspective on Jewish Identity in Antiquity. In: Jones S & Pearce S (eds.) Jewish Local Patriotism and Self-Identification in the Graeco-Roman Period. The Library of Second Temple Studies. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, pp. 29-49. http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/jewish-local-patriotism-and-self-identification-in-the-graeco-roman-period-9780567136534/

Book Chapter

Introduction: Jewish local identities and patriotism in the Graeco-Roman period

Pearce S & Jones S (1998) Introduction: Jewish local identities and patriotism in the Graeco-Roman period. In: Jones S & Pearce S (eds.) Jewish Local Patriotism and Self-Identification in the Graeco-Roman Period. The Library of Second Temple Studies. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, pp. 13-28. http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/jewish-local-patriotism-and-self-identification-in-the-graeco-roman-period-9781850758327/

Book Chapter

Introduction: archaeology and cultural identity in Europe

Jones S & Graves-Brown P (1996) Introduction: archaeology and cultural identity in Europe. In: Graves-Brown P, Jones S & Gamble C (eds.) Cultural Identity and Archaeology: The Construction of European Communities. Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) series. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 1-24.

Book Chapter

Discourses of identity in the interpretation of the past

Jones S (1996) Discourses of identity in the interpretation of the past. In: Graves-Brown P, Jones S & Gamble C (eds.) Cultural Identity and Archaeology: The Construction of European Communities. Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) series. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 62-80.

Teaching

I teach core and option modules for the BA (Hons) in Heritage and Tourism and the MSc Heritage. I also supervise BA and MSc dissertations, as well as Heritage Portfolio students.

Undergraduate Modules

ARTUHN6 Nationalism, Heritage and Identity (coordinator and lecturer)

HISU9X5/6/7/8 Dissertation (supervision)

HISUHX7 Heritage portfolio (supervision)

Postgraduate Modules

HERPP01 Heritage: Critical Perspectives (lecturer)

HERPP02 Research Skills (lecturer)

HERPP03 Heritage as Practice: Conservation, Management and Interpretation (coordinator and lecturer)

HERPP04 Heritage, Identity and Place (coordinator and lecturer)

HERPP07 Understanding and Managing Historic Environments: a Scottish Perspective (lecturer)

HERPPD1 Dissertations and Work-based Projects (supervisor)

Research programmes

Research centres/groups

Research themes