Susanne Grieve Rawson

Susanne Rawson is researching theoretical approaches to heritage management, in particular the effect of values and decision-making on built heritage sites.

Susanne Grieve grew up in a National Register of Historical Places home built in 1851 as part of an idealistic communal society in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was hence influenced from a young age by the natural setting and admiration for the past. Her formative years were further spent in the Southern USA where she developed a deeper appreciation for the historical and social influences of coastal environments on identify. An exploration of geography and a desire to gain experience in new environments has led her to reside in Taranaki with her family where she is developing her appreciation for the Aotearoa New Zealand past through community based research on underwater and near water heritage sites.

Susanne believes that more open, wide-reaching and transparent communication with realistic goals and resources can lead to better understandings of the past and find future directions for the preservation of significant heritage sites and objects. Through her work as a cultural materials conservator and PhD candidate she strives to acknowledge tikanga Māori and reshape heritage practices to incorporate public interactions with the past. Her work is shaped by serving in many roles related to cultural heritage preservation, material culture, and archaeology including non-profit, education, and private practice environments with a variety of materials and in locations from the Arctic to the Antarctic, South America and across the Near East and Africa.