Probing beneath the surface: an object-driven research approach to unsettle established narratives in a maritime collection

Presented by Alina Botezatu.

Abstract

This paper draws on work from my doctoral project, following its aim to develop a research methodology to engage with the hidden stories, values and meanings of the Trinity House of Leith, and its maritime collection. After introducing a series of concepts that frame the object-driven methodology, the discussion will focus on how the understanding of the approach developed through the research process.

Reflections on my own work with objects and documentary sources are joined with ideas prompted by the preparation, facilitation and analysis of a workshop with heritage professionals from Historic Environment Scotland, who volunteered to experiment with the approach and offered their feedback. Along the way, detailed examples of objects encountered through the research process will show how the approach works. While focusing on the case of Trinity House, the proposed approach contributes to current research efforts to reconsider object collections and their place in the broader heritage landscape.

Alina Botezatu is a postgraduate researcher working at the intersection of critical heritage and museum studies. Based in the Heritage team at the University of Stirling, Alina is in the third year of a collaborative PhD with Historic Environment Scotland, funded by AHRC. Alina has undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Stirling, and has a developing research interest in cross-disciplinary approaches, aiming to grasp the relationships between people, objects and places, and the ways these come together to constitute heritage.