Hannah Ayres
Biography
Hannah Ayres (she/her) is a PhD researcher based in the department of Sociology at the University of Warwick. Her current research looks at queer re/presentation in museums and how queer individuals create, critique and internalise these re/presentations. She has previously taught on modules to do with sexuality, gender, research methods, human nature, selfhood, media and queer theory. Hannah has also produced guidance on inclusive teaching for trans and gender-diverse students for the University of Warwick. Hannah co-founded queer/disrupt, a group focused on making queer knowledge, topics, and histories accessible for a general audience. Hannah was a co-convenor of the group from July 2019 to March 2022. Hannah is currently the co-host of Theoryish alongside Paola Medina-Gonzalez. This podcast aims to bring theory to a wider audience in the most relevant, interesting, and accessible way.
Hannah's previous research looked at how museums re/presented sixteenth and seventeenth century witchcraft in the UK, Europe, and North America.
Research interests: queer history, public history, queer theory, memory studies, visual sociology, neoliberalism, decolonisation, postcolonialism, gender and social theory.
PhD Research
History permeates people's everyday lives in several ways. One of the most powerful is through public historical re/presentation in public facing institutions such as museums. Museums, which are often publicly funded, have a large impact on what history gets remembered and internalised in the public consciousness. This research project aims to investigate queer historical re/presentation in museums in the UK. I want to understand the ways in which queer individuals and communities create, react to and internalise these re/presentations.
I use 'queer' as a term in my project in three ways:
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As an umbrella term that can yield more productive conversations around inclusivity and exclusivity over the more traditional LGBTQ+ moniker.
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As an indicator of that which opposes the norm.
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As a verb to deconstruct the logics and frameworks of the museum and to question the dynamics of power and privilege.
Whilst these definitions give a useful indicator as to what my project involves, I also aim to interrogate the use of 'queer' in my own work.
My methodological approach aligns closely with queer and feminist methodologies. I am using what Halberstam terms 'a scavenger methodology', bringing together methods in an interdisciplinary manner. My methods involve a combination of discourse analysis, ethnography, field-notes, observation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and a visual method called photovoice. Photovoice allows participants to communicate how they identify with objects, text, spaces etc. through the medium of photography.
My supervisors are Dr. Cath Lambert and Dr. Laura Schwartz. I was previously supervised by Dr. Meleisa Ono-George.