Alexandra Roginski

I am a writer and PhD candidate with the School of History at the Australian National University and the author of 'The Hanged Man and the Body Thief: Finding Lives in a Museum Mystery' (Monash University Publishing, 2015). I recently completed my PhD thesis – 'A Touch of Power: Popular Phrenology in the Tasman World'. It focused on exploring the popular, performed life of the now-discredited science that claimed that a person's head shape could reveal their character and intellect. This project embraces more than a century, from the mid-nineteenth century until present day, when we are still grappling with legacies of cranial sciences such as the collections of human remains amassed by phrenologists.
My work spans Australian history, the history of Aotearoa New Zealand, Indigenous histories, the history of science, ethnography, museum studies and social and cultural history.
I am a member of the Centre for Environmental History at ANU and a Research Associate of Monash University.
I am a graduate of Monash University (BA/LLB, Postgrad Dip in Arts (Research)).
Prior to commencing my PhD, I worked for a decade in media and communications, contributing to publications including 'The Age' and the 'Big Issue'. As a result of this experience, I am passionate about communicating my research to a general audience in a lively, thought-provoking way.