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)

41 - 43 of 43 works

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

2006

Journal Article

Bodily connections and practising relatedness: Aboriginal family and funerals in rural north Queensland

Babidge, Sally (2006). Bodily connections and practising relatedness: Aboriginal family and funerals in rural north Queensland. Anthropological Forum, 16 (1), 55-71. doi: 10.1080/00664670600572520

Bodily connections and practising relatedness: Aboriginal family and funerals in rural north Queensland

2005

Journal Article

Making media work in space: An interdisciplinary perspective on media and communication requirements for current and future space communities

Babidge, S., Cokley, J. D., Gordon, F. and Louw, P. E. (2005). Making media work in space: An interdisciplinary perspective on media and communication requirements for current and future space communities. International Journal of Astrobiology, 4 (3-4), 259-268. doi: 10.1017/S1473550405002788

Making media work in space: An interdisciplinary perspective on media and communication requirements for current and future space communities

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

    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

    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

    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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