Our Team
Radhika Mohanram
Project Role: Principal Investigator
I am a Professor at the School of English, Communication and Philosophy in Cardiff University and I teach Postcolonial Studies and Critical Theory. I am a Tamil speaker from India and I have been living in Wales since 2000. My recent research has focussed on the 1947 Indian partition and I have also worked on an oral history project on this topic with a focus on South Wales. I am interested in trauma and memory studies.
Chris Weedon
Project Role: Co-investigator
I am professor emerita at Cardiff University. Throughout my career I have focused on questions of cultural theory and politics, identity, gender, race and ethnicity. I have been actively involved in a range of community-based oral history projects since 1990 working with people from varied minority communities.
Beth Thomas
Project Role: Co-investigator
Until recently, I was Keeper of History & Archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru-Museum Wales. My work has always involved collecting and archiving oral history and oral culture. I have been a member of the Oral History Society’s board of trustees since 1990. As a British Library/Oral History Society accredited trainer, I teach people from all walks of life to do oral history. I am a believer in participatory ways of working, involving people and communities directly in the development of a museum’s collections and research.
Samuel Sequeira
Project Role: Research Associate
I am a research associate at the School of English, Communication and Philosophy in Cardiff University. I did my doctorate on the topic of South Asian Migrants of South Wales. My areas of research have been oral history, memory studies and identity conflicts. I worked in India as a journalist for a decade before I arrived in the UK in 2004 to pursue my doctorate and research. My current work is to record the oral histories of Sri Lankan refugees in south Wales.
Angham Abdullah
Project Role: Research Associate
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the School of English, Communication and Philosophy in Cardiff University. I am originally from Iraq and moved to the UK in 2009 for my doctorate degree at the University of York. Before moving to the UK, I was a lecturer of comparative literary studies and a translator of Arabic in the Middle East. My research focusses on issues related to Iraqi women’s narratives of war, displacement and exile. I have a long experience of voluntary work, both as an Arabic interpreter and social worker, with refugees in the UK. My current work is to record the oral histories of Syrian refugees in Wales.
Sioned Hughes
Project Role: Co-Investigator
I am Head of Public History and Archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales. My role involves setting the strategic direction of the department, ensuring that collections are accessible, developed, researched and used in creative and inspiring ways for the benefit of the people of Wales. Over the past five years I have lead several projects that explore ways of interpreting collections through public engagement, collaboration and co-production, more recently leading on the development of activist collecting at Amgueddfa Cymru.
Elen Phillips
Project Role: Co-Investigator
I am Principal Curator of Contemporary and Community History at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales where I have been employed in various curatorial roles since 2005. I recently led on delivering a programme of co-produced displays for the new galleries at St Fagans National Museum of History. My research interests include activist museum practice; contemporary collecting methodologies; and craft-based employment schemes in Wales during the 1930s Depression.