Critical museology; queer museology; LGBTIQ+ histories; political histories and histories of activism

Craig Middleton is a Curator at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra. Until recently he wasliving and working in South Australia as the Manager of the Centre of Democracy, a collaborative project led by the History Trust of South Australia in partnership with the State Library of South Australia. The Centre of Democracy explores histories of activism and social change in South Australiaand at the same time encourages visitors and users to think about current and future states of democracy. As Manager he was responsible for the permanent gallery, exhibitions, public programs,partnerships, and online programs including social media.

In 2017/18 Craig was awarded a George Alexander Foundation Fellowship to explore political histories and museum practice in American museums. Part of his research focused on contemporary collecting practices undertaken by museums at political events, such as protests and demonstrations.

Craig’s curatorial practice and current research is centred around Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer+ lives, and through the application of Queer Theory to museological practices challenges heteronormative ways of knowing, doing, and being in museums.

His book, co-authored with Dr Nikki Sullivan, Queering the Museum was published by Routledge in November 2019.

Craig tweets at @_museumguy