Independent Historian & Writer | Arts & Heritage Sector Professional
Research: My academic interests relate to the history of science, exploration and empire, using interdisciplinary approaches to draw upon insights from historical geography and cultural anthropology. I am interested in how biographical studies and microhistory can be used to tell stories which inform larger social and global historical perspectives.
Research: My academic interests relate to the history of science, exploration and empire, using interdisciplinary approaches to draw upon insights from historical geography and cultural anthropology. I am interested in how biographical studies and microhistory can be used to tell stories which inform larger social and global historical perspectives.
My PhD research focussed upon the Sino-Tibetan borderlands during the first half of the twentieth century. I looked at the lives and careers of Westerners and Indigenous peoples from a wide range of social and professional backgrounds who engaged in scientific exploration, examining the ways in which they represented themselves through the practices of travel writing, photography and collecting.
My research continues to pursue and develop ways of understanding the history of European, Russian, American, and Japanese incursions into China and other areas of East Asia, examining imperial and colonial knowledge gathering systems in relation to extraterritoriality and ‘informal empire,’ as well as islands and borderland regions, exploring East/West cultural perceptions, encounters and exchange, and cross-cultural relationships and identity. I’m also interested in mountain environments (particularly the Himalaya), and the histories of material cultures of collecting in relation to botanical gardens, museums and libraries, as well as cultural diplomacy.
PhD thesis title: "Empirical Adventurers: Science and Imperial Exploration in East Tibet, 1900-1949."
Tim Chamberlain – Birkbeck College, University of London, UK, 2024.
PhD supervisors: Prof. Julia Lovell (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK), and Prof. Naoko Shimazu (Tokyo College, University of Tokyo, Japan).
I am also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, UK.
Writing: I have published articles in popular press publications (e.g. British Museum Magazine), academic peer-reviewed journals, and contributed chapters to edited book collections. I have also written reviews for numerous publications, both on-line and in print (e.g. The LSE Review of Books; Global Maritime History; The Alpine Journal). Since 2011, I have written a popular personal blog (Waymarks) about history and travel, which features original travel writing and research, as well as reviews of books, documentaries, and exhibitions. Some of the articles which have appeared on Waymarks have been cited in both popular and academic book publications. In 2023, one of my blog posts, Jack Kerouac: Lonesome Traveller in London, 1957, was published by Beat Scene Press as a limited edition chapbook.
Public Presentations & Research Projects: I have presented my research at global history and area studies seminars held at the European University Institute, Italy, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. I also participated in the interdisciplinary Other Everests Research Network.
Career: I have spent most of my professional life working in the museums and heritage sector, based in the UK. I have a wide and extensive experience of coordinating international touring exhibition projects in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. I have recently re-located and settled in Tokyo, Japan, where I am currently open to and actively seeking new employment opportunities which will utilise my skills in research, writing, curating, teaching, exhibitions, and publishing.
Tim Chamberlain – Birkbeck College, University of London, UK, 2024.
PhD supervisors: Prof. Julia Lovell (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK), and Prof. Naoko Shimazu (Tokyo College, University of Tokyo, Japan).
I am also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, UK.
Writing: I have published articles in popular press publications (e.g. British Museum Magazine), academic peer-reviewed journals, and contributed chapters to edited book collections. I have also written reviews for numerous publications, both on-line and in print (e.g. The LSE Review of Books; Global Maritime History; The Alpine Journal). Since 2011, I have written a popular personal blog (Waymarks) about history and travel, which features original travel writing and research, as well as reviews of books, documentaries, and exhibitions. Some of the articles which have appeared on Waymarks have been cited in both popular and academic book publications. In 2023, one of my blog posts, Jack Kerouac: Lonesome Traveller in London, 1957, was published by Beat Scene Press as a limited edition chapbook.
Public Presentations & Research Projects: I have presented my research at global history and area studies seminars held at the European University Institute, Italy, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. I also participated in the interdisciplinary Other Everests Research Network.
Career: I have spent most of my professional life working in the museums and heritage sector, based in the UK. I have a wide and extensive experience of coordinating international touring exhibition projects in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. I have recently re-located and settled in Tokyo, Japan, where I am currently open to and actively seeking new employment opportunities which will utilise my skills in research, writing, curating, teaching, exhibitions, and publishing.