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Lore & Background

Dan Hicks studied archaeology and anthropology at St John's College, Oxford, earning a BA, and received his PhD in archaeology and anthropology from the University of Bristol. He worked as a field archaeologist in local authority and private sectors in the 1990s, and has conducted fieldwork in the UK, the eastern Caribbean, and the eastern United States. He previously held positions as Lecturer in Archaeology and Anthropology at St John's College, Oxford, and the University of Bristol, and as Research Fellow at Boston University. He is now Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at Oxford and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Hicks has appeared on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time and Making History. In 2017-18 he served as Junior Proctor of the University of Oxford. He has also been a non-executive director of Museum of London Archaeology, a trustee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a trustee of Oxford University Press, and a trustee of the University of Oxford. In 2019, he co-curated the exhibition Lande: The Calais ‘Jungle’ and Beyond at the Pitt Rivers Museum. In 2021-22, he advised Isaac Julien for his work Once Again (Statues Never Die), commissioned by the Barnes Foundation. In 2022, he curated an installation by Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor at St Paul's Cathedral.

Reader's Guide

Hicks's 2020 book The Brutish Museums has drawn both praise and criticism. It was named one of the New York Times Best Arts Books of 2020, described by Ben Okri as 'a startling act of conscience,' by the LA Review of Books as 'masterful,' and by The Guardian as 'A beautifully written, carefully argued book.' Critics include Nigel Biggar, who said 'Brutish Museums is an object lesson in how political zeal can abuse data in the cause of manufacturing an expedient narrative,' and Richard Morrison of The Times, who called its vision 'so impractical on so many levels that it could only have come from someone who makes his living in an ivory tower that’s actually stocked with ivory.' Staffan Lundén criticized the book for letting 'emotion, oversimplified messages, and personal opinion take precedence over evidence.' Hicks responded in the International Journal of Cultural Property, noting that 'Lundén’s paper does not identify a single substantive mistake or incorrect fact in The Brutish Museums' and that Lundén has previously leveled similar charges against John Mack, Nigel Barley, and Neil MacGregor. In June 2023, Hicks was announced as Chair of Judges for the 2023 Hessell-Tiltman Prize. He has written comment pieces in The Guardian, The Telegraph, Hyperallergic, The Art Newspaper, and Art Review. In 2022, Hicks was involved in controversy over his contributions to decolonising the Wellcome Collection's 'Medicine Man' exhibit, criticized for 'cloudy vagueness' and historical inaccuracy in asserting Jeremy Bentham opposed abolition of slavery and was involved in the invention of race science. He responded that the provision of bodies for anatomical investigation was key to 19th century race science. Hicks delivered the 2020 Schöne Lecture at Technische University Berlin; the 2021 Marilyn Strathern Lecture at Cambridge; the 2021 Spence Lecture at Western University, Ontario; the 2022 Robert K. Webb Lecture at UMBC Baltimore; the 2021 Goethe Lecture in London; the 2022 Bernie Grant Memorial Lecture; and the 2023 Driedger Lecture at University of Lethbridge.

Did You Know?

• Dan Hicks was Junior Proctor of the University of Oxford in 2017-18.
• His 2020 book The Brutish Museums was named one of the New York Times Best Arts Books of 2020.
• In 2022, he curated an installation by Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor at St Paul's Cathedral.
• Hicks was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 24 January 2008.
• He won the 2022 Best Book in Public History from the National Council on Public History for The Brutish Museums.