R B Parkinson
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R B Parkinson (Richard Bruce Parkinson, born 1963[1]) is a curator at the British Museum and the author of A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity Across the World.
He joined the museum in 1991, having previously taught at Oxford University. He is an expert in Ancient Egypt, and has published a number of books (popular as well as academic) on Egyptian subjects.[2] His particular interest is Egyptian poetry, some of which has references to same-sex desire, which, as a gay man, he had taken a particular interest in.[3]
When the Museum was approached to help with an LGBT history trail, he volunteered to help, and this led to the publication of A Little Gay History.[3]
A Little Gay History covers same-sex desire through history, with references to a number of objects in the British Museum's collection.[4] He has said that his favourite among the objhects is the novel and film Maurice:
- "I read the novel at school, and saw the film while a student at Oxford, and by chance I met my partner exactly three years to the day after seeing the film. So they happen to mean a lot to me. Those are not entirely rational reasons, but then a history of human desire cannot be—and perhaps should not be—entirely rational."[5]
Further reading
R B Parkinson, A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity Across the World. Columbia University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-231-16663-8
References
<references>
- This article is a stub. You can help the UK LGBT History Project by expanding it.
- ↑ http://cif.tors.ku.dk/people/parkinson/Parkinson_CV.pdf/ "Richard Bruce Parkinson CV" University of Copenhagen
- ↑ http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/departments/staff/ancient_egypt_and_sudan/richard_parkinson.aspx British Museum website
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://www.cup.columbia.edu/static/interview-parkinson-little-gay-history Blog post
- ↑ http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-16663-8/a-little-gay-history Columbia University Press
- ↑ http://www.cup.columbia.edu/static/interview-parkinson-little-gay-history "Interview with R B Parkinson", Columbia University Press