Dr Anna Kelley

Dr Anna Kelley

Lecturer in Ancient History

Email
ack20@st-andrews.ac.uk
Office
S8
Location
Swallowgate

 

Biography

I received my BA from Wesleyan University with a double major in Archaeology and English Literature; after working in the private sector for several years, I returned to academia and completed a MA in Archaeology and Art History at the School or Oriental and African Studies, University of London, followed by a MLitt in Art History and Art Business Practice at the University of Glasgow. I then began my PhD at the University of Birmingham's Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies where I examined the presence of exchange networks in Africa and the Middle East through the diffusion of cotton as a commodity in the first millennium.

During the final year of my PhD I held a year-long Scouloudi Doctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research in London (2017-2018). I was then accepted as a Junior Research Fellow in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections in Washington, DC (2018-2019). I came to 58³Ô¹Ï in 2019 as a postdoctoral researcher in the School of History and joined the School of Classics as a Lecturer in Ancient History in 2023.

My core research interests focus on exchange networks in Late Antiquity (particularly in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, and Indian Ocean), gender and labour organisation, the social history of textile production and use, and the environmental history of desert landscapes. I have also recently been working on the history of archaeology and its intersection with British imperialism.

I am currently on maternity leave until January 2027. When I return, I will take up a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship to complete my monograph Cotton in the First Millennium: A Global History of Local Networks.

PhD supervision

  • Farisha Dannels
  • Shannon Mcmillan

Selected publications

  • Open access
    Kelley, A., 20 Apr 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Advance articles, p. 1-17

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Kelley, A., 13 Apr 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean. Latest Articles, p. 1-17

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Kelley, A., 1 Dec 2025, In: Études byzantines et post byzantines. 7, 14, p. 253–277

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Kelley, A. C. (Editor) & Vanni, F. (Editor), 20 Jan 2025, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 354 p. (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman studies)

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Kelley, A. C., 20 Jan 2025, Approaching social hierarchies in Byzantium: dialogues between rich and poor. Kelley, A. C. & Vanni, F. (eds.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 147-174 28 p. (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman studies).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Kelley, A. C. & Vanni, F., 20 Jan 2025, Approaching social hierarchies in Byzantium: dialogues between rich and poor. Kelley, A. C. & Vanni, F. (eds.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 3-19 17 p. (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman studies).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Open access
    Kelley, A. C., Apr 2024, In: Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 48, 1, 21 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Kelley, A. C., 10 Mar 2024, In: Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik. 73, p. 57 87 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Kelley, A. C., 24 Nov 2024, Travelling matters across the Mediterranean: rereading, reshaping, reusing objects (10th-20th centuries. Falcucci, B., Giusti, E. & Trentacoste, D. (eds.). Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, p. 39-71 33 p. (Histories in motion; vol. 1).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Open access
    Kelley, A., 1 Feb 2023, In: Past & Present. 258, 1, p. 3-43 41 p., gtac007.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review