William Wright
- Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
- PhD Student in Archaeology
Contact
Location
- Department of Archaeology
- Cambridge, CB2 3DZ
About
I completed my BA at the University of California, Berkeley in History and Classical Languages before pursuing an MPhil in Medieval History at the University of Oxford, researching ritual and space in pre-Christian Scandinavia. I arrived at Cambridge for the MPhil in Heritage Studies, researching identity creation in 19th century California, and am the current holder of the Osborn Research Studentship in medieval studies at Sidney Sussex College.
Outside of my current work in heritage studies, I volunteer with community archaeology projects across England, with a particular focus on the pre-Norman period.
Research
My primary research interests lie in understanding the nexus of heritage, memory, and identity, with a focus on the role of myth and storytelling in mediating changes to the former. My PhD project draws upon my previous work on the pre-Christian period in Scandinavia and the 19th century in the Western United States to present a diachronic understanding of the role of myth in shaping heritage and identity. Specifically, it seeks to investigate how myth and media are created to manage and alter heritage, memory, and identity drawing on the concepts of genre, mediality, and assemblage. Through its dissimilar comparison, my project aims to unsettle assumptions about the unique role of heritage and media in modern, industrial societies and to seek patterns of heritage interaction that extend beyond the well-studied, modern canon of the field.