Research interests
Material culture, visual anthropology, museums; globalisation, consumption, capitalism; textiles, practical knowledge, skill; infrastructure, anthropology of maintenance and repair, anthropology of technology 

Research area
Europe, China, Urban, Post-Industrial 

Short bio
Kiah Rutz undertook her BA in Classical Archaeology at UCL and then obtained an MPhil in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology from the University of Oxford. She primarily works in the fields of material culture and visual anthropology. Her main research focus lies on the study of object biographies and histories, their social, cultural, economic and political context, and thereby their maintenance, repair, transformation and reuse. She is also interested in industrial labour, machines and technologies in the production cycle of things, as well as consumption and use in the age of capitalism. Kiah also specialises in visual methodologies and their application in ethnographic research and museum displays. Before joining the VMZ as PhD Candidate and Lecturer, Kiah worked on the exhibition "Vielfalt – Textiles Wissen von Miao Frauen in Südwest China (Hidden Complexities – Unfolding Miao Women’s Textile Skills)" about Miao textile production.