Tiffany Jenkins is a British sociologist,

cultural commentator A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions of ...

and writer, and is culture editor for the journal ''Sociology Compass''.

Career

She is the author of ''Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections'' (2011), which looks at the influences at play on the controversy over human remains in museum collections; and of ''Keeping Their Marbles'' (2016), which examines the controversies surrounding the

Parthenon Marbles The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of classical Greek art, and the Parthenon is considered a ...

, and the wider debate on the repatriation of cultural heritage. However, Jenkins' arguments have been described by experts in the field as "clumsy and shallow, and on occasion misleading" in addition to contributing to "the normalization of extremist discourse" in museology. In spite of this, Jenkins has continued to argue that western museums should not return said treasures. She is editor of a multi-authored book of essays, ''Political Culture, Soft Interventions and Nation Building'' (2015), which examines the act of cultural intervention in countries that have been devastated by conflict. She is a regular contributor to the broadsheet press on the arts and cultural issues, including a column for ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' newspaper. Jenkins is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Art History at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. She was previously a visiting fellow at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, and arts and society director of the Institute of Ideas. In March 2025, she was appointed as a trustee of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

Bibliography

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References

External links

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TMA creative management agencyBBC Radio 4, ''Forethought'', "Judgement at Last"
September 2014
BBC Radio 4, ''Beauty and the Brain''
presented by Tiffany Jenkins, January 2014
BBC Radio 4, ''Start the Week''
with Lisa Jardine, James Weatherall, Kenneth Cukier, Tiffany Jenkins and Marcus du Sautoy, February 2013
BBC Radio 4, ''The Value of Culture Today''
with Melvyn Bragg, Christopher Frayling, Matt Ridley, and Tiffany Jenkins, in January 2013 Living people British sociologists Museologists Year of birth missing (living people) British women non-fiction writers 21st-century British non-fiction writers 21st-century British women writers 21st-century British social scientists British women sociologists Trustees of the British Museum {{UK-sociologist-stub