Dr Laura Gibson

Laura Gibson has been teaching in the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, since January 2019 after completing her PhD in the same department. She currently convenes the MA in Digital Asset and Media Management programme and teaches theory modules at undergraduate level. Her PhD research on decolonisation and digitisation is informed by several years working in South African museums, including as Collections and Digitisation Manager at the Luthuli Museum national legacy project. Laura’s current research, part funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, considers issues of indigenous knowledge exchange and repatriation in South Africa using digital tools. She holds an MPhil in African Studies from the University of Cape Town (2006) and a First-Class BA (Hons) in History from University of Durham (2004).

Research interests & PhD supervision

• Decolonisation
• Digitisation
• Cultural Heritage
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Selected publications

• Turner, H, Gibson, L, and Gimenez-Delgado, C. (2021) ‘Participatory Design for the Anarchive: The Amagugu Ethu / Our Treasures Documentation Project.,’ Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021:1783–1792. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3461778.3462129
• Gibson, Laura. “Pots, Belts, and Medicine Containers: Challenging Colonial-era Categories and Classifications in the Digital Age.” Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy 6, no.2 (2020). https://doi.org/10.14361/zkmm-2020-0204
• Gibson, Laura, and Rebecca Kahn. “Digital Museums in the 21st Century: Global Microphones or Universal Mufflers?” Museological Review 20 (2016). http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/documents/museologicalreview/mr-20-2016
• Taylor, Joel, and Laura Kate Gibson. "Digitisation, digital interaction and social media: embedded barriers to democratic heritage." International Journal of Heritage Studies (2016): 1–13. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2016.1171245

Teaching

Laura currently convenes the MA in Digital Asset and Media Management programme and has taught second and third-year undergraduate theory modules.

Expertise and public engagement

• Gibson, Laura. “Museum in a Box tells our stories.” Mail and Guardian, March 12, 2020. https://mg.co.za/africa/2020-03-12-museum-in-a-box-tells-our-stories/