Research Interests

Gerard's research interests relate to his experiences in Africa and revolve around issues of identity construction and representation in colonial and postcolonial museum, heritage, public history and cultural tourism contexts. Linked to these, his research focuses on integrated heritage management, the value of intangible cultural heritage resources, stakeholder participatory processes, community benefits and sustainable development. He is particularly interested in the processes of management and interpretation of natural and cultural heritage resources by indigenous peoples.

His specific research interests focus on 'ecomuseums' and similar democratic projects located in different countries around the world and how these projects relate to the above research areas. Currently, he is looking at the development of ecomuseums in provinces in the People’s Republic of China. He is also interested in work being done by the ‘Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development’, along with its stakeholders and shareholders, regarding heritage management and heritage tourism in Guyana, South America.

Current Work

Gerard writes on how the ecomuseum principles can be used as an effective alternative to the more dominant Western traditional approaches to museum work and heritage management. He is also interested in intangible cultural heritage and the impact of UNESCO's initiatives in this area.

Background

After completing his MA in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, Gerard Corsane returned to South Africa in 1989 and worked with heritage, museums and galleries for ten years. During this time, he participated in the exciting processes of transformation that occurred around the country's first democratic elections. He worked in the Albany Museums' History Division, in Grahamstown, for six years before becoming the first Robben Island Training Programme Co-ordinator. In this post he was involved in the facilitation and development of positive action training opportunities for black South Africans in the heritage, museums and galleries sector. In November 1999, he came over to the UK to take up a three-year lecturing contract in the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester.

In September 2002 he moved to the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies. He appreciates the integrated approaches to heritage, museum and galleries research and teaching in the Centre, especially as they relate to 'new' museology, community museology and ecomuseums.

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