Anthropology

What does it mean to live in an age of globalised knowledge? Is this an outcome of globalising ‘knowledge societies’ or is it because of a universal demand for knowledge to solve global problems?

UQ Anthropologists conduct research in a broad range of fields that examines new forms of knowledge economies in a rapidly changing world. Our research is actively engaged in generating empirical research on risk in society:  how environmental risks attached to mining industries are transmitted, managed and understood within rural communities; or, the sense of perceived risk of steroid-use amongst young men.  UQ anthropologists are engaged in projects examining how digital communications and their aesthetics transform traditional knowledge networks. Our research is challenging assumptions that digital communications bridge social equalities, enfranchise communities in rural and remote areas, and strengthen civil society.

Do social identities matter in a seemingly fluid, culturally heterogeneous, and ever-changing world?

UQ Anthropologists study expressions and articulations of identity as well as more abstract and fixed ideas of identity among peoples in different parts of the world. We ask; are the politics of identity implicated in migration and population mobility, patterns of conflict, and the use of resources and environment? Our research examines religious and ethnic identity in creating social and political boundaries and how such boundaries are negotiated between groups and through time. UQ anthropologists are engaged in research that seeks to understand forms of ethnic and gender identity in Australian society and elsewhere. How do group and individual identities shape ideas of what the human body can do or should be? Projects exploring articulations of settler and indigenous identities in settler-colonial societies have a focus on a sense of belonging to place, to people, or to nation.