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

43 works between 2005 and 2025
All (43) Journal Article (30) Book Chapter (6) Conference Publication (2) Book (3) Other Outputs (2)

21 - 40 of 43 works

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

2017

Journal Article

Ritualidad y extractivismo. La limpia de canales y las disputas por el agua en el salar de atacama-norte de chile

Bolados Garcia, Paola and Babidge, Sally (2017). Ritualidad y extractivismo. La limpia de canales y las disputas por el agua en el salar de atacama-norte de chile. Estudios Atacamenos (54), 201-216.

Ritualidad y extractivismo. La limpia de canales y las disputas por el agua en el salar de atacama-norte de chile

2017

Journal Article

Ritualidad y extractivismo. La limpia de canales y las disputas por el agua en el salar de atacama-norte de Chile

Garcia, Paola Bolados and Babidge, Sally (2017). Ritualidad y extractivismo. La limpia de canales y las disputas por el agua en el salar de atacama-norte de Chile. Estudios Atacamenos, 2017 (54), 201-216. doi: 10.4067/S0718-10432016005000026

Ritualidad y extractivismo. La limpia de canales y las disputas por el agua en el salar de atacama-norte de Chile

2016

Journal Article

State Theory and Andean Politics: New Approaches to the Study of Rule

Babidge, Sally (2016). State Theory and Andean Politics: New Approaches to the Study of Rule. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 22 (1), 107-109. doi: 10.1080/13260219.2016.1182253

State Theory and Andean Politics: New Approaches to the Study of Rule

2015

Journal Article

Contested value and an ethics of resources: water, mining and indigenous people in the Atacama Desert, Chile

Babidge, Sally (2015). Contested value and an ethics of resources: water, mining and indigenous people in the Atacama Desert, Chile. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 27 (1), 84-103. doi: 10.1111/taja.12139

Contested value and an ethics of resources: water, mining and indigenous people in the Atacama Desert, Chile

2015

Book Chapter

Who belongs in the nation?

Babidge, Sally (2015). Who belongs in the nation?. Courting Blakness: recalibrating knowledge in the sandstone university. (pp. 112-117) edited by Fiona Foley, Louise Martin-Chew and Fiona Nicoll. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Press.

Who belongs in the nation?

2015

Journal Article

The problem with 'transparency': moral contests and ethical possibilities in mining impact reporting

Babidge, Sally (2015). The problem with 'transparency': moral contests and ethical possibilities in mining impact reporting. Focaal, 73 (73), 70-83. doi: 10.3167/fcl.2015.730106

The problem with 'transparency': moral contests and ethical possibilities in mining impact reporting

2014

Journal Article

Where the river ends: contested indigeneity in the Mexican Colorado Delta, by Shaylih Muehlmann

Babidge, Sally (2014). Where the river ends: contested indigeneity in the Mexican Colorado Delta, by Shaylih Muehlmann. Anthropological Forum, 25 (1), 86-88. doi: 10.1080/00664677.2014.906021

Where the river ends: contested indigeneity in the Mexican Colorado Delta, by Shaylih Muehlmann

2013

Journal Article

"Socios": the contested morality of "partnerships" in indigenous community-mining company relations, northern Chile

Babidge, Sally (2013). "Socios": the contested morality of "partnerships" in indigenous community-mining company relations, northern Chile. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 18 (2), 274-293. doi: 10.1111/jlca.12020

"Socios": the contested morality of "partnerships" in indigenous community-mining company relations, northern Chile

2012

Conference Publication

Cars, museums, collecting: objects and the nature of heritage

Trigger, David, Babidge, Sally, Oertierra, Anna, Ross, Annie and Hafner, Diane (2012). Cars, museums, collecting: objects and the nature of heritage. Australian Anthropological Society Conference, St Lucia, Qld, Australia, 26-29 September 2012. St Lucia, Qld, Australia: Australian Anthropological Society.

Cars, museums, collecting: objects and the nature of heritage

2012

Other Outputs

Supplementary material at request of QSNTS, in regard to Anthropological expert report: Kullilli Native Title Claim. Expert Report to Queensland South Native Title Services Aboriginal Corporation. Report produced for the Australian Federal Court proceedings and Consent Determination.

Babidge, Sally (2012). Supplementary material at request of QSNTS, in regard to Anthropological expert report: Kullilli Native Title Claim. Expert Report to Queensland South Native Title Services Aboriginal Corporation. Report produced for the Australian Federal Court proceedings and Consent Determination..

Supplementary material at request of QSNTS, in regard to Anthropological expert report: Kullilli Native Title Claim. Expert Report to Queensland South Native Title Services Aboriginal Corporation. Report produced for the Australian Federal Court proceedings and Consent Determination.

2011

Conference Publication

Comparing informal and formal community-company relations

Babidge, Sally (2011). Comparing informal and formal community-company relations. First International Seminar on Social Responsibility in Mining (SR Mining 2011), Santiago Chile, 19-21 October 2011. Santiago Chile: Gecamin.

Comparing informal and formal community-company relations

2011

Book Chapter

The proof of native title connection in absentia

Babidge, Sally (2011). The proof of native title connection in absentia. Unsettling anthropology: The demands of native title on worn concepts and changing lives. (pp. 82-99) edited by Toni Bauman and Gaynor Macdonald. Canberra, ACT, Australia: AIATSIS.

The proof of native title connection in absentia

2010

Book

Aboriginal family and the state

Babidge, Sally (2010). Aboriginal family and the state. Farnham, U.K.: Ashgate.

Aboriginal family and the state

2010

Other Outputs

Anthropological expert report: Kullilli Native Title Claim. Expert Report to Queensland South Native Title Services Aboriginal Corporation. Report produced for the Australian Federal Court proceedings and Consent Determination.

Babidge, Sally (2010). Anthropological expert report: Kullilli Native Title Claim. Expert Report to Queensland South Native Title Services Aboriginal Corporation. Report produced for the Australian Federal Court proceedings and Consent Determination..

Anthropological expert report: Kullilli Native Title Claim. Expert Report to Queensland South Native Title Services Aboriginal Corporation. Report produced for the Australian Federal Court proceedings and Consent Determination.

2010

Book Chapter

Identity, difference, and development

Babidge, Sally and Dressler, Wolfram (2010). Identity, difference, and development. The International Studies encyclopedia. (pp. 3576-3594) edited by Robert A. Denemark. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.23

Identity, difference, and development

2008

Journal Article

A Cautious Silence: The Politics of Australian Anthropology

Babidge, Sally (2008). A Cautious Silence: The Politics of Australian Anthropology. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37 (1), 178-179. doi: 10.1017/s1326011100016215

A Cautious Silence: The Politics of Australian Anthropology

2008

Book Chapter

Death, family and disrespect in a northern Queensland town

Babidge, S. (2008). Death, family and disrespect in a northern Queensland town. Mortality, Mourning and Mortuary Practices in Indigenous Australia. (pp. 137-152) edited by K. Glaskin, M. Tonkinson, Y. Musharbash and V. Burbank. Surrey UK: Ashgate. doi: 10.4324/9781315248646-16

Death, family and disrespect in a northern Queensland town

2007

Book

Written True Not Gammon: A history of Aboriginal Charters Towers

Babidge, Sally (2007). Written True Not Gammon: A history of Aboriginal Charters Towers. Thuringowa, Qld: Black Ink Press.

Written True Not Gammon: A history of Aboriginal Charters Towers

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

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

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

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

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Allison Fish

  • Doctor Philosophy

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

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor 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 Sarah Holcombe

  • 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

    Understanding human-water relationships for sustainable water futures

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Understanding human-water relationships for sustainable water futures

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Historical-ethnographic approaches to Participatory Design in Australian indigenous architecture

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Ms Carroll Go-Sam, Associate Professor 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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