Professor Sian Sullivan

Personal statement

I am an environmental anthropologist, cultural geographer and political ecologist concerned to better understand diversity in cultural understandings and representations of the natural world, amidst concern over climate change and species decline. I am particularly interested in intersections and frictions between cultural, natural history and economic values as these relate to beyond-human natures. 

I have carried out oral history and heritage mapping field research with Indigenous peoples (Damara / ǂNūkhoen and ǁUbun) in west Namibia on and off since 1992. Recently this work was used as expert testimony in a national review of Indigenous and marginalised communities for the Namibian government’s Ancestral Land Commission (published by Namibia's Legal Assistance Centre, 2019).

I also research the financialisation of nature (see my website The Natural Capital Myth), as well as contributing to current debates regarding the conservation and livelihoods value of trophy hunting (for example, "Hunting Africa": Trophy Hunting, Neocolonialism and Land, 2022) 

I am part of the core teaching team for the MA Environmental Humanities, for which I lead a module called "Cultural Landscapes". From 2022-23, I will be leading a new level 6 module called "Conservation in Africa" (POL6100), available to students on BSc Wildlife Conservation, BA Environment, Politics and Philosophy and BA Global Development and Sustainability.

I am also the UK Principal Investigator for a major humanities research project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG). Etosha-Kunene Histories (2020-2024) is an international collaboration between Bath Spa University, the University of Cologne and the University of Namibia. The project contributes new thinking on colonialism, indigeneity and ‘natural history’ in Namibia. Our geographical focus is the iconic African conservation area stretching between Etosha National Park and Skeleton Coast National Park in Namibia, encompassing an array of different community conservation and tourism wildlife concession areas in between. Our aim is to support laws and practice in biodiversity conservation in recognising the diversity of pasts, cultures and natures constituting this internationally-valued region. 

Alongside BSU Senior Lecturer in Human Geography Dr Giovanna Gioli, from 2023-2025 I am a Co-Investigator for a new research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust proposing "A Decolonial and Justice Perspective on Climate Change Adapation". This project builds on a recent open access volume I co-edited called Negotiating Climate Change in Crisis (2021).

An emphasis of my work is to use creative methods to convey scholarly research, so as to reach both new understandings and new audiences. I co-curated the  exhibition Future Pasts: Landscape, Memory and Music in West Namibia in galleries in Bath (UK, 2017) and Swakopmund (Namibia, 2019). In conjunction with local research collaborators in Namibia I am developing new work with Somerset-based recording artist Toby Marks (Banco de Gaia) that reinterprets and reinvigorates archive and research recordings of Khoe-musics. I am also working with Bristol-based film-maker Oliver Halsey to create a series of film-works from the AHRC-funded research projects Future Pasts and Etosha-Kunene-Histories – see The Music Returns to Kai-as (2020).

For more information about my research you can find me on Google Scholar, Researchgate and Academia.edu.

Teaching and supervision

Postgraduate: I am part of the core teaching team for the MA Environmental Humanities. For this course I lead a module called "Cultural Landscapes" (EH7008), teach on the core modules Issues and Approaches in Environmental Humanities (EH7001) and Interdisciplinary Research Methods for Environmental Humanities (EH7009), and supervise dissertations.

Undergraduate: From 2022-23 will be leading a new level 6 module called "Conservation in Africa" (POL6100), available to students on BSc Wildlife Conservation, BA Environment, Politics and Philosophy and BA Global Development and Sustainability.

I also teach on the Level 6 open module on People and Plants (BIO6104).

I have supervised several PhDs to completion, and welcome applications engaging with intersections between culture, nature and value(s), particularly in colonial and postcolonial contexts. 

Academic qualifications

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2008)
• PhD University College London (UCL), Anthropology (1998)
• BSc (First Class) University College London, Anthropology and Geography (1993)
• Royal Ballet School and Benesh Institute (Dance Notation), Teacher Training Diplomas (1987)

Funding and awards

• Co-Investigator "A Decolonial and Justice Perspective on Climate Change Adaptation", Leverhulme Trust 2022-2025 (led from Lancester Environment Centre, University of Lancaster).
• Principal Investigator (UK) Historicising Natures, Cultures and Laws in the Etosha-Kunene Conservation Territories of Namibia: From Deutsch Südwestafrika’s “Game Reserve No. 2” to “Kunene People’s Park”? (Etosha-Kunene Histories) (AH/T013230/1, fEC £390,098), 2020-2024
• Principal Investigator (UK) and Project Coordinator Disrupted Histories, Recovered Pasts: A Cross-Disciplinary Analysis and Cross-Case Synthesis of Oral Histories and History in Post-Conflict and Postcolonial Contexts (AH/N504579/1, fEC UK £99,743 & €79,661), 2016-2019
• Principal Investigator Future Pasts in an Apocalyptic Moment: A Hybrid Analysis of ‘Green’ Performativities and Ecocultural Ethics in a Globalised African Landscape (AH/K005871/2, fEC £996,385), 2013-2019
• Co-Investigator 21st Century Filipina Nature Writing for Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice (AH/P007589/1, fEC £80,643), 2016-2017
• Co-Investigator Human, Non-human and Environmental Value Systems: An Impossible Frontier? (RP2012-V-041, £587,269), 2012-2016
• Core member of AHRC international research network on Spectacular Environmentalisms: Media, Celebrity and the Environment (AH/H039279/1), 2010-2011
• Co-Investigator, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research grant, Problematizing Neoliberal Biodiversity Conservation: Displaced and Disobedient Knowledge, 2008
• Co-Investigator, Alternative Media and Public Action, ESRC Non-Governmental Public Action (NGPA) Research Programme (RES-155-25-0029, £45,000), evaluated as ‘outstanding’, 2005-2007
• British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 1998-2001
• Small Grant from The British Academy, 2001 and Small Grant from The Nuffield Foundation, 1999
• Grants for PhD field research from the Emslie Horniman and Ruggles-Gate Funds of the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Parkes Foundation and Boise Fund of the Depts. of Anthropology at Cambridge and Oxford Universities respectively, the UCL Equipment Fund, and the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 1994-1998

Professional memberships and affiliations

• Association of Social Anthropologists
• Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
• Member, International Society for Hunter Gatherer Research
• Research Associate, Gobabeb Namib Research Institute (Namibia)
• Research Affiliate, National Museum of Namibia, Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture
• Member, Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Node in the International Political Ecology Network (POLLEN)

External examiner

• PhD thesis, Univesrity of Aberdeen (Sociology), 2021
• PhD thesis (by publication), Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Canterbury, 2020
• PhD thesis, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Canterbury, 2020
• PhD thesis, Lancaster Environment Centre, University fo Lancaster, 2020
• PhD thesis (pre-examiner), University of Helsinki, Finland, 2020
• PhD thesis, University of Sussex (International Relations), 2018
• PhD thesis, University of Sussex (Development Studies), 2017
• PhD thesis, public defense, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Faculty of Social Sciences), 2017
• PhD thesis, University of Leicester (Geography), 2017
• PhD thesis, public defense, University of Oslo (Anthropology), 2017
• PhD thesis, University of Lincoln (International Business School), 2017
• PhD thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies (Anthropology), 2012
• PhD thesis, public defense, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (International Centre for Environment and Development Studies (NORAGRIC), 2011
• Masters Core Course and Specialisms, Institute for Social Studies, The Hague, 2011
• Masters programme, MRes Anthropology, University College London, 2008-2012
• Masters programme, MSc. Anthropology, Environment and Development, University College London, 2007-2011
• PhD thesis, Oxford University (Centre for the Environment), 2007
• PhD thesis, public defense, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (International Centre for Environment and Development Studies (NORAGRIC), 2007
• PhD thesis, King’s College London (Geography), 2006
• Masters Dissertation, Rhodes University, 2005
• Masters Dissertation, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (International Centre for Environment and Development Studies (NORAGRIC), 2002
• Masters Dissertation, University of Cape Town, 2000

Other recent external roles and academic service

• Recent peer review work for UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) councils: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
• Member of the Peer Review College for the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (Academic, International), 2020-23
• International peer reviewer for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, 2013 and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Humanities and Social Sciences)
• Journal article reviews (2014-2022) for Antipode; Globalizations; Stability: International Journal of Security and Development; Conservation and Society; People and Nature; Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space; Political Geography; Geoforum; Conservation Science & Practice; Geohumanities; Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute; Annals of the Association of American Geographers; Hunter Gatherer Research; History and Anthropology; South African Historical Journal; Environmental Humanities; Ecosystem Services; Current Anthropology; American Anthropologist; Society and Natural Resources; Journal of Agrarian Change; American Ethnologist; New Political Economy; New Formations: A Journal of Theory, Culture and Politics; Conservation Biology; Oryx; Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers; Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space; Biological Conservation; Development and Change.

Areas of expertise

• Cultural landscapes
• Social impacts of biodiversity conservation
• Financialisation of nature
• Biodiversity offsetting
• Political Ecology
• Khoe / Sān ethnography
• Oral history
• Namibia
• Social movements