No faculty members at any department are experts in my area of interest!

[matakohore]

Hey all,

 

I am interested in focusing on art of Oceania for my PhD. I am based in the United States and want to stay in the United States for my PhD. I am currently at a top 5 university doing an art history post-bacc and am shopping for potential POI. However, when I reach out to them (usually ones who are specialists in, say, global indigenous art or a related area) they say they are not Oceanic art specialists and can't support that work, but these are all universities that have significant Oceanic art collections at their museums. Help! Am I doomed? What do I do?

[matakohore]

Also to add....I don't want to foreground only colonial perspectives; i.e. I don't want to just research Oceanic art from a colonial, white perspective. I want to do work on Oceanic art and Oceanic artists from the 18th-19th centuries. 

[groovysquirrel]

I know you said you want to stay in the US, but academically it seems like going abroad would provide you with more support. Would you ever consider going to Australia or New Zealand? Or even England? It seems like you may need to either compromise your academic pathway or compromise your preferred location.