Susan Whitfield

Silk Road historiography, history, archaeology, textile, fashion and art history; history of the book; digitization; censorship in China; narratives of cultural heritage.

Susan Whitfield has been researching, travelling, lecturing and writing about the Silk Road for over three decades.

Following her PhD in Chinese historiography at SOAS, University of London, she became curator of over 50,000 medieval Silk Road manuscripts at the British Library. During her 25 years there, she developed and directed an international collaboration between museums, libraries and other holders of Silk Road artefacts worldwide (idp.bl.uk). She also led large research and educational projects and curated two major international Silk Road exhibitions in London and Brussels.

She has a wide range of research interests, represented by her publications. Several of her books are widely used in both university and school teaching internationally, as well as finding a wider readership.

Susan is currently part of the project team for Nara to Norwich: Arts and beliefs at the ends of the Silk Roads, 500-1100, an international, collaborative research project that aims to explore the Silk Roads beyond their current limits of the Chinese and post-Roman worlds.

silkroaddigressions.com