CV
A detailed copy of my CV is available on request. Please contact henrietta.hammant@cantab.net.
Education
University of Reading
Sept 2020 - Present
I am a PhD candidate in the Anthropology of Heritage. My thesis considers explorers of the 'Heroic Age' of Antarctic exploration and asks how museum practice may influence the way that they are understood by the public. My ultimate aim is to challenge the idea of the 'hero' and uncover a more diverse network of agents involved in the operating of these historic expeditions and the ways that they have been memorialised in British museums.
University of Oxford
2015 - 2016
MSc in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology (pass) including dissertation fieldwork in the photographic archive of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.
University of Cambridge
2012 - 2015
BA in Archaeology and Anthropology (2:i) including dissertation fieldwork in Utqiagvik, Alaska.
Museum work
Polar Museum,
Cambridge
2022 - Present
Collections Manager. Caring for collections both physically and through facilitating research.
National Maritime Museum
2022 - Present
Family Program Freelancer (Science Engagement). Developing and delivering accessible science engagement sessions.
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Yorkshire
2021
I devised and created three short films on the life of Frank Wild to coincide with the museum’s exhibition of related objects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF4s4a9ZNbM&ab_channel=MiddlesbroughMuseums
Polar Museum, Cambridge
March 2019 - Sept 2020
Collections Project Cataloguer with responsibility for temporary exhibitions.
Itsanitaq
Museum, Churchill, Manitoba
May - Dec 2018
Assistant Curator. The Itsanitaq Museum specialises in Inuit art, culture and heritage.
Guest speaking and teaching
Antarctic History Lecturer, Norwegian Cruise Lines Dec 2023/Jan2024
I researched and wrote five lecturers on a variety of topics relating to Antarctic history, which I presented without notes to audiences of up to 500 people. Following onboard evaluation, my passenger ratings were 93%, with an overwhelming majority of guests rating me as 'Excellent'.
SCAR Humanities and Social Sciences Conference June 2023
The Heroic Age and ‘hero objects’: the impact of museum practice on the interpretation of British Antarctic explorers of the early twentieth century.
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I was also invited to speak on the roundtable: Curating Antarctica: Shaping histories and futures through ideas, art, and objects.
Conference on Historic and Underwater Archaeology January 2023
Heroic Networks: museum objects and the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration
PHaSS
May 2022
Invited to speak for the Polar Humanities and Social Sciences research group at the Scott Polar Research Institute.
Heroic Networks: objects, museums and Antarctic explorers.
Reading/
British Museum
April 2022
Presented at this joint workshop between the university and BM.
Polar heroes and inclusive object biographies.
Virtual HistSTM
March 2022
Invited to join as a speaker.
Roundtable on the discovery of the Endurance.
Reading University
Spring 2022
Graduate teaching assistant for the module 'Contemporary World Cultures - An Introduction to Social Anthropology'. Leading seminars and marking coursework.
Guest lecturer for third year module 'The anthropology of heritage and cultural property'. Lecture entitled Heritage and Nationalism.
Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference
December 2021
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration: Using object biographies to reveal a diverse set of characters.