Biography

I am an environmental anthropologist with a deep and abiding interest in multispecies ethnography, wildlife conservation, climate change, indigenous environmental knowledge, storytelling and adaptation. In 2003, I became the first anthropologist for over forty years to conduct longterm ethnographic fieldwork in the internationally contested Protected Area and ‘biodiversity hotspot’ of Arunachal Pradesh in the Eastern Himalayas. In 2007, I was awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, and in 2014 received the first student-led cross-university Teaching Award for 'Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching and Support' at the University of Sussex. In 2018, I returned to Arunachal Pradesh, site of my doctoral fieldwork, to offer policy recommendations on conservation of wildlife and tribal identity. These policy recommendations achieved widespread coverage across state media, and led to the creation of a scholarship for young shaman-priests and storytellers of the Nyishi tribe, to guarantee continuation of indigenous storytelling practices and indigenous environmental knowledge.

Role

Research Associate