Associate Professor Sally Babidge
Associate Professor

Sally Babidge

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 53286

Background

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 (see a recent FILM made with research collaborators), 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.

Availability

Associate Professor Sally Babidge is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Anthropology

Qualifications

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Education, James Cook University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, James Cook University

Research interests

  • Engaged ethnographic methodologies

    ‘Engaged’ anthropology is an explicit rejection of empiricist social science. As an approach it articulates with a politics of knowledge production that counters the colonial narratives of conquest and intersects with critical decolonising projects. As a White anthropologist with settler colonial heritage who works with Indigenous communities in Australia and Chile, I am interested in research partnerships and seek to design research in response to the articulated interests of those with whom I work.

  • Water and its cultural politics (environmental anthropology)

    My work has contributed to literature in environmental anthropology and political ecology in relation to water as sociotechnical expertise, as a resource, right and relation, and the governance of water use and protection. My research on the cultural politics of water, informed by ethnography with Atacameño-Likanantay peoples in northern Chile is internationally known for its contributions to knowledge on the cultural politics of water. I supervise HDR projects in a variety of contexts where students are asking comparable questions about water governance, industrial extraction and pollution and water justice, especially for First Nations/Indigenous Peoples and their inclusion in water futures.

  • Extractive capitalism (extractivism) and its social effects

    The political economic analysis of the social effects of extractive (mining) capitalism cannot be adequately understood without a consideration of the agency of Indigenous Peoples. My research opens up critical questions about 'development' and ‘entrepreneurship’ as moral projects, and the ethical conditions of late capitalism as these arise in the context of negotiations between companies and communities. I undertake engaged and applied research on these questions in northern Chile and Australia, largely at the request of Community partners, and supervise HDR students on relevant topics.

Search Professor Sally Babidge’s works on UQ eSpace

41 works between 2005 and 2024
All (41) Journal Article (29) Book Chapter (6) Conference Publication (2) Book (2) Other Outputs (2)

1 - 20 of 41 works

Featured

2023

Journal Article

Fellowship of the Spring: an initiative to document and protect the world's oases

Fensham, Roderick J., Adinehvand, Rouhollah, Babidge, Sally, Cantonati, Marco, Currell, Matthew, Daniele, Linda, Elci, Alper, Galassi, Diana M. P., de la Hera Portillo, África, Hamad, Salah, Han, Dongmei, Jawadi, Hussain Ali, Jotheri, Jaafar, Laffineur, Boris, Mohammad, Alsharifa Hind, Naqinezhad, Alireza, Navidtalab, Amin, Nicoll, Kathleen, Odeh, Taleb, Re, Viviana, Sanjuan, Bernard, Souza, Valeria, Stevens, Lawrence E., Tekere, Memory, Tshibalo, Ernest, Silcock, Jennifer, Webb, John, van Wyk, Braam, Zamanpoore, Mehrdad and Villholth, Karen G. (2023). Fellowship of the Spring: an initiative to document and protect the world's oases. Science of The Total Environment, 887 163936, 163936. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163936

Fellowship of the Spring: an initiative to document and protect the world's oases

Featured

2023

Journal Article

Negotiated agreements, Indigenous peoples and extractive industry in the Salar de Atacama, Chile: when is an agreement more than a contract?

O'Faircheallaigh, Ciaran and Babidge, Sally (2023). Negotiated agreements, Indigenous peoples and extractive industry in the Salar de Atacama, Chile: when is an agreement more than a contract?. Development and Change, 54 (3), 641-670. doi: 10.1111/dech.12767

Negotiated agreements, Indigenous peoples and extractive industry in the Salar de Atacama, Chile: when is an agreement more than a contract?

Featured

2023

Journal Article

Lithium extractivism: perpetuating historical asymmetries in the ‘Green economy’

Mejia-Muñoz, Sara and Babidge, Sally (2023). Lithium extractivism: perpetuating historical asymmetries in the ‘Green economy’. Third World Quarterly, 44 (6), 1119-1136. doi: 10.1080/01436597.2023.2176298

Lithium extractivism: perpetuating historical asymmetries in the ‘Green economy’

Featured

2021

Book Chapter

Water Ownership and Governance

Babidge, Sally (2021). Water Ownership and Governance. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. (pp. 1-1) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.471

Water Ownership and Governance

Featured

2021

Journal Article

Seeing water slow resistance and the material enigma of extractive effects on society and ecology

Babidge, Sally (2021). Seeing water slow resistance and the material enigma of extractive effects on society and ecology. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 11 (2), 395-411. doi: 10.1086/715788

Seeing water slow resistance and the material enigma of extractive effects on society and ecology

Featured

2019

Journal Article

'That's the problem with that lake; it changes sides': mapping extraction and ecological exhaustion in the Atacama

Babidge, Sally, Kalazich, Fernanda, Prieto, Manuel and Yager, Karina (2019). 'That's the problem with that lake; it changes sides': mapping extraction and ecological exhaustion in the Atacama. Journal of Political Ecology, 26 (1) 3169, 738-760. doi: 10.2458/v26i1.23169

'That's the problem with that lake; it changes sides': mapping extraction and ecological exhaustion in the Atacama

Featured

2019

Journal Article

Sustaining ignorance: the uncertainties of groundwater and its extraction in the Salar de Atacama, northern Chile

Babidge, Sally (2019). Sustaining ignorance: the uncertainties of groundwater and its extraction in the Salar de Atacama, northern Chile. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 25 (1), 83-102. doi: 10.1111/1467-9655.12965

Sustaining ignorance: the uncertainties of groundwater and its extraction in the Salar de Atacama, northern Chile

2024

Journal Article

Editorial

Babidge, Sally and Mimica, Jadran (2024). Editorial. Oceania, 94 (1), 2-2. doi: 10.1002/ocea.5394

Editorial

2023

Journal Article

Water futures in Australia: materialities, temporalities, imaginaries

Babidge, Sally, Eickelkamp, Ute and Connor, Linda (2023). Water futures in Australia: materialities, temporalities, imaginaries. Oceania, 93 (3), 196-215. doi: 10.1002/ocea.5380

Water futures in Australia: materialities, temporalities, imaginaries

2023

Journal Article

Water Lore: Practice, Place, Poetics. By CamilleRoulière & ClaudiaEgerer. London, UK and New York, NY, USA: Earthscan from Routledge. 2022. Pp: xxi + 261. Price: A$75.99

Babidge, Sally (2023). Water Lore: Practice, Place, Poetics. By CamilleRoulière & ClaudiaEgerer. London, UK and New York, NY, USA: Earthscan from Routledge. 2022. Pp: xxi + 261. Price: A$75.99. Oceania, 93 (3), 396-397. doi: 10.1002/ocea.5385

Water Lore: Practice, Place, Poetics. By CamilleRoulière & ClaudiaEgerer. London, UK and New York, NY, USA: Earthscan from Routledge. 2022. Pp: xxi + 261. Price: A$75.99

2023

Journal Article

Affective propositions, the plant turn, and critiques of development

Babidge, Sally, Dothling, Nathália, Thomson, Sarah, Riordan, Tyler, Wissing, Kirsty, Sant'Anna Fernandes, Ainá and Mejía Muñoz, Sara (2023). Affective propositions, the plant turn, and critiques of development. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 34 (1), 30-32. doi: 10.1111/taja.12464

Affective propositions, the plant turn, and critiques of development

2022

Journal Article

Editorial

Babidge, Sally and Mimica, Jadran (2022). Editorial. Oceania, 92 (3), 244-244. doi: 10.1002/ocea.5355

Editorial

2022

Journal Article

Review of What Now: Everyday Endurance and Social Intensity in an Australian Aboriginal Community. by Cameo Dalley. New York: Berghahn Books, 2021, 252pp., 25 b&w illustrations, $120 (HB.), ISBN 978‐1‐78920‐885‐6

Babidge, Sally (2022). Review of What Now: Everyday Endurance and Social Intensity in an Australian Aboriginal Community. by Cameo Dalley. New York: Berghahn Books, 2021, 252pp., 25 b&w illustrations, $120 (HB.), ISBN 978‐1‐78920‐885‐6. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 33 (1), 74-76. doi: 10.1111/taja.12405

Review of What Now: Everyday Endurance and Social Intensity in an Australian Aboriginal Community. by Cameo Dalley. New York: Berghahn Books, 2021, 252pp., 25 b&w illustrations, $120 (HB.), ISBN 978‐1‐78920‐885‐6

2021

Journal Article

Letter to the Editor

Babidge, Sally (2021). Letter to the Editor. Oceania, 91 (3), 380-380. doi: 10.1002/ocea.5321

Letter to the Editor

2020

Journal Article

Consultation's overburden: Indigenous participation in the extractive industry in the Salar de Atacama, Chile

Babidge, Sally (2020) Consultation's overburden: Indigenous participation in the extractive industry in the Salar de Atacama, Chile. Transformations, 33 48-63.

Consultation's overburden: Indigenous participation in the extractive industry in the Salar de Atacama, Chile

2019

Journal Article

When the Hills Are Gone: Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community by Thomas W. Pearson  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2017. 248 pp

Babidge, Sally (2019). When the Hills Are Gone: Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community by Thomas W. Pearson  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2017. 248 pp. American Anthropologist, 122 (1) aman.13363, 184-185. doi: 10.1111/aman.13363

When the Hills Are Gone: Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community by Thomas W. Pearson  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2017. 248 pp

2019

Book Chapter

A custodial ethic: Indigenous values towards water in Moreton Bay and catchments

Pinner, Breanna, Ross, Helen, Jones, Natalie, Babidge, Sally, Shaw, Sylvie, Witt, Katherine and Rissik, David (2019). A custodial ethic: Indigenous values towards water in Moreton Bay and catchments. Moreton Bay Quandamooka and catchment: past, present and future. (pp. 29-44) edited by Ian R. Tibbetts, Peter C. Rothlisberg, David T. Neil, Tamara A. Homburg, David T. Brewer and Angela H. Arthington. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Moreton Bay Foundation.

A custodial ethic: Indigenous values towards water in Moreton Bay and catchments

2018

Journal Article

Neoextractivism and indigenous water ritual in Salar de Atacama, Chile

Babidge, Sally and Bolados, Paola (2018). Neoextractivism and indigenous water ritual in Salar de Atacama, Chile. Latin American Perspectives, 45 (5), 170-185. doi: 10.1177/0094582X18782673

Neoextractivism and indigenous water ritual in Salar de Atacama, Chile

2017

Journal Article

Failing forward: A case study in neoliberalism and abandonment in Calama

Babidge, Sally and Belfrage, Madeleine (2017). Failing forward: A case study in neoliberalism and abandonment in Calama. Cultural Dynamics, 29 (4), 235-254. doi: 10.1177/0921374017743300

Failing forward: A case study in neoliberalism and abandonment in Calama

2017

Journal Article

Alchemy in the rainforest. Politics, ecology, and resilience in a New Guinea mining area

Babidge, Sally (2017). Alchemy in the rainforest. Politics, ecology, and resilience in a New Guinea mining area. Human Ecology, 45 (1), 135-137. doi: 10.1007/s10745-016-9876-z

Alchemy in the rainforest. Politics, ecology, and resilience in a New Guinea mining area

Past funding

  • 2019 - 2020
    Yawar: Cultural Mapping Project
    Queensland Performing Arts Trust
    Open grant
  • 2019
    Zooming In, Zooming Out: High-Definition Multi-Scalar Technologies in Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and Environment
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2015
    Places of shared value: Documenting cultural heritage values of Mapoon people
    Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2012
    The Atacama and Australian mining companies: identity, intercultural communication and negotiation in northern Chile
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2009
    UQ Travel Awards Category 2, Dr Sally Babidge
    UQ Travel Grants Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2008
    Creating new research opportunities in archaeological & anthropological science
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2008
    The politics of indigenous identity: sociality, politics and governance in comparative perspective
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Associate Professor Sally Babidge is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Understanding human-water relationships for sustainable water futures

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Water Justice and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM): Changing institutional frameworks of water governance in Chile

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Martin Weber

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Rise of Brand Name Fruit: Apples and Signification in Australia

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Allison Fish

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The end of the world(s): the whole environment of the Degredo Quilombola Community living with the Mariana dam crisis in Brazil.

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Gerhard Hoffstaedter

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Food Sovereignty in Post-Socialist Croatia

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Green extractivism, environmental justice and Indigenous Rights: The case of lithium mining in Chile

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Kristen Lyons

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Historical-ethnographic approaches to Participatory Design in Australian indigenous architecture

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Ms Carroll Go-Sam, Dr Kelly Greenop

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Associate Professor Sally Babidge directly for media enquiries about:

  • Applied anthropology
  • critiques of development
  • Environmental anthropology
  • Ethics and morality
  • Ethnography
  • Indigenous Peoples (Australia and Chile)
  • Resource extraction and mining
  • Water

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