John Mack
John Mack joined UEA in 2004, after 28 years in the British Museum during which he was head of the Museum of Mankind and specialised in researching, publishing and exhibiting the African collections. He has travelled extensively in Africa and undertaken longer-term fieldwork in eastern Africa and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. Among his many publications, his books include African Textiles (1979, with John Picton), Culture History in the southern Sudan (1981, with Peter Robertshaw), Madagascar, Island of the Ancestors (1986), Emil Torday and the Art of the Congo (1990); he also edited Africa, Arts and Cultures (2000), which was published in association with the Sainsbury African Galleries in the British Museum. His most recent publication is The Art of Small Things (British Museum, 2007) and he is also beginning a volume on Africa in the Pelican History of Art series.
Current research projects include 'Belief and belonging: religion and identity in northern Kenya' with the British Institute of Eastern Africa.
John is the university’s Professor of World Art Studies and, in addition to teaching the undergraduate programmes in the School of World Art and Museology at UEA , offers postgraduate teaching and supervision on Africa for the Sainsbury Research Unit.
John Mack, Professor in World Art Studies