Lina G. Tahan

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT LINA G. TAHAN

Lina G. Tahan (Ph.D.) is currently the Chair of IC-Ethics and is an affiliated researcher at the University of Cambridge and an independent museum consultant working with schools on educational packages within the museum sector. She was a research consultant on Iraqi heritage and state building for the UCL-Nahrein Network and Chatham House partnership. In the past, she was a Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the Lebanese University, where her teaching focuses on the management of museums.Previously, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale (LAS) of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris (20••••07). Her post-doctoral research looked at the construction of Lebanese identities and their representation in Lebanese museums and it was funded by the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and the Ministère de l’Education Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de La Recherche. From 20••••10, she was a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, where she researched Cultural Tourism and Heritage.Her PhD (Cambridge, 2004) investigated the changing roles of museums in Lebanon during the colonial and post-colonial periods. It also examined the impact of the socio-political influences embedded within these institutions in terms of the creation of meaning and value and the lingering impact of the French colonial legacy upon museums today. In addition, it provided insight into the relationship between colonisers and colonised in terms of museum representation and the manner in which France presented the archaeology of Lebanon in the Louvre Museum.Her research interests relate to:(1) the representation issues within museums collections, exhibitions and visitors;(2) the history of collections and museum development in Lebanon within the political context;(3) the role of museums in fostering understanding in divided societies;(4) the relationship between Archaeology and Cultural Tourism, and the blending of materialities and mentalities which has become regarded as commonplace in contemporary archaeological and tourism discourses. She is an active member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), mainly working to promote museums in the Arab World.