Dr Shelley Angelie Saggar
Shelley's research focuses on the intersection between Indigenous literary studies and critical museum practice
Staff details
Shelley is a postdoctoral researcher on the AHRC-funded 'Sharing Lands: Reconciliation, Recognition & Reciprocity' project, led by Dr Padraig Kirwan (Goldsmiths), Professor LeAnne Howe (University of Georgia), and Professor Gillian O'Brien (Liverpool John Moores). The project examines legacies of the 1847 Choctaw 'Gift' and takes a transdisciplinary and transatlantic approach to understanding the enduring legacy between the Choctaw Nation and the Irish that continues to this day.
For more on the project, see: https://sharinglands.com/
Academic qualifications
- PhD, English Literature 2024
- MA, Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Studies 2016
- BA (Hons), English Language & Literature 2015
Teaching and supervision
Research interests
I am a researcher and museum professional with an interest in the intersection between contemporary Indigenous literary cultures and museum practice. My work takes an interdisciplinary approach with the aim of bridging these fields.
My PhD, funded by the AHRC, was titled: ‘Narrating the Museum: Contestations, Reclamations, and Refusals in Contemporary Indigenous Literature and Film’, and awarded in 2024. This project examined literary and filmic representations of the colonial museum, concentrating on texts by Indigenous writers from North America and Aotearoa New Zealand. My wider research interests include Fourth Cinema, sustenance cultures and museum studies. My work has been published in the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, the Journal of Museum Ethnography and ART HX.
Featured publications
Professional projects
Shelley is the founder of The Decolonial Dictionary – a resource aimed at making postcolonial theory more accessible in museum contexts. She have also worked with a range of museums including the Science Museum, Wellcome Collection, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on a variety of collections research and curatorial projects.