Melissa Thomas

Research project

Living on the Edge: Precarity and Resilience in the Heritage of Fisherfolk and Fish

Supervisors: Professor Emma Waterton and Dr Tanja Hoffmann

Funded by: Leverhulme Trust

Summary of research project:

My PhD is part of the ‘Inclusions/Exclusions’ axis of the Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre, which explores the complex relations between heritage and society in contemporary Britain. My PhD aims to understand how experiences of exclusion, inclusion and precarity impact relationships with heritage through the lens of current and former fishing communities in the UK. I am focussing on how gender and class impact interactions with heritage. I am also interested in the political and environmental contexts of fishing in the Anthropocene and in the experiences of precarity, liminality and loss amongst fisherfolk and fish in the past and present. I will work with two case study communities in the UK, as well as visiting a range of fishing villages across Britain. The co-production of data with these communities will play an important part in my PhD. I will also use secondary data, especially in the form of oral histories, to supplement my research.