Mark Elliott

Senior Curator in Anthropology

Mark works with ethnographic collections from Asia, Africa and Europe. His research focuses on Asia, particularly South Asia, and he has co-curated exhibitions including Another India (2017), Buddha’s Word (2014) and Assembling Bodies (2009). Originally from Northern Ireland, Mark studied social anthropology in St Andrews, trained as a theatre electrician in Exeter, and did his PhD in Social Anthropology at Cambridge. He has been at MAA, wearing all manner of different hats, since 2003 and has been a curator since 2012.

Maasai visitors in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Knowing What Is Important: Rethinking collections with Maasai cultural leaders

by Mark Elliott | 20.07.20

In January 2020 a group of Maasai activists and cultural spiritual leaders from Kenya and Tanzania were hosted in Cambridge by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) during a two-week visit to museums in Oxford and London. The encounter between Maasai men and women and their ancestral artefacts was emotional for visitors and museum staff alike, but from pain… Read full article