Associate Professor Sally Babidge

I am a sociocultural anthropologist in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland and current (2021-present) Director of the Master of Development Practice program. My research is focussed on the social and cultural dimensions of ecological and economic change, especially that driven by the extractives industry and experienced by Indigenous Peoples. Current research is engaged in the epistemological, political and practical problems of 'seeing' harms from large scale mining projects, especially lithium in the 'critical minerals' extraction boom, and in relation to groundwater and associated community futures. Ethnographic methodologies and theory that rely on sustained, engaged, and ethical relationships characterise my practice in Australia and Chile and resulting publications.

I design courses for and teach in the undergraduate major in anthropology, as well as for multidisciplinary areas of teaching in theory and methodology for Humanities and Social Science Faculty Honours students and in program design for the Development Practice students. HDR students from anthropology and other social science backgrounds undertake research under my supervision on questions associated with ecological futures, especially water, but also territorial relations, and in areas of political anthropology, and decolonial and feminist theory and method.