Dr Stella Basinyi
Lecturer
Profile
Biography
Stella Basinyi has a multidisciplinary background in Archaeology, Cultural Studies and Heritage Management. She studied Archaeology at the University of Botswana, Master of Arts in Culture and Environment in Africa at the University of Cologne and PhD in Heritage Management at Justus Liebig University (Giessen, Germany). Before joining the University of York, she was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and an Advancing Woman Fellow at the University of Cape Town, Department of Archaeology and Human Evolution Research Institution (HERI).
Career
She was a Leica Geosystems Visiting Research Fellow in Spatial Archaeology Residential and Online Institute (SAROI) at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST), University of Arkansas. The program was sponsored by the National Endowment for Humanities.
Stella worked at the Botswana National Museum and Monuments and practised as an independent consulting archaeologist and heritage specialist in Botswana since 2019. Basinyi is currently an ICOMOS international expert.
Research
Overview
Stella’s work focuses on public engagement with cultural heritage sites, with particular attention to the processes through which heritage is created, interpreted, and communicated. Her research explores the relevance of archaeological and cultural heritage to contemporary societies, especially in relation to indigenous and local communities whose histories and knowledge systems are often embedded in these spaces.
Her work also examines the relationships between heritage practice, community participation, and the narratives that shape understandings of the past in the present. Through this research, she seeks to highlight the social, cultural, and political dimensions of heritage-making and the ways in which heritage can support more inclusive and locally grounded interpretations of the past.
Her postdoctoral research project focused on the historical influences shaping heritage and scientific narratives, examining how these narratives have been constructed over time and how they affect the representation and interpretation of archaeological knowledge today.
Teaching
Undergraduate
- Prehistory to Present UG
- World Archaeology Settlement and Societies UG
- Presenting Archaeology and Heritage UG
- Approaching Global Challenges: Archaeology and Heritage UG
- Heritage practice Module and Filed school UG
- Rock art Heritage UG
- Presenting Archaeology and Heritage
Postgraduate
- Contemporary Issues in Museums
- Museums, Audiences and Interpretation
External activities
Memberships
- International Council on Monuments and Sites ( ICOMOS)
- The Association of Southern Africa Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA)
- Botswana Association of Professional Archaeologists (BAAP)
- American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA)
- Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS)
