An analysis of expanding road infrastructure on indigenous land rights, food security and forest cover in southern Palawan, the Philippines : Find an Expert : The University of Melbourne <p> Across the Southeast Asian uplands, expanding road infrastructure increasingly penetrates remnant forests and Indigenous territories, with major consequences for land rights, food security, and biodiversity (Clements et al., 2014; Reddiar and Osti, 2022). In the Philippines, where only 10 percent of original forest cover remains, new road networks linked to critical minerals mining, oil palm and tourism estate expansion are affecting forests long managed by Indigenous peoples (Sze et al., 2022; Nolos et al., 2023; Mason et al., 2025). As the country’s last ecological frontier, Palawan loses roughly 5,500 hectares of forest annually as roads penetrate forest reserves and ancestral lands (Nolos et al., 2023), yet their impacts remain poorly understood. </p> <p> <strong>Research Question:</strong> What are the origins and impacts of road networks on land rights, food security, and forest cover in southern Palawan? How and why do different types of roads emerge, and who wins and loses from them? </p> <p> This PhD project examines the historical and contemporary rise of road networks penetrating the upland forests of southern Palawan, where Indigenous communities face intersecting pressures on land, resources, and governance. It analyses how roads intersect with ancestral domain claims, livelihood changes, shifting land classifications, territorial disputes, and changing accessibility, and how these processes affect Indigenous food security, forest cover, and biodiversity. </p> <p> Using spatial analysis and ethnographic methods, the project traces the spatial and temporal dynamics of road expansion, land use conversion, livelihood changes, forest degradation and biodiversity declines. It integrates satellite imagery, planning documents, and community sketch maps to quantify forest cover change and model relationships between road density, agricultural transitions, and biodiversity. </p> <p> Grounded in political ecology and Indigenous land politics, the project examines how competing claims intersect along roads as socioecological corridors that facilitate market integration while catalysing dispossession and reconfigurations of customary authority. Through ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and spatial analysis, it generates a multiscalar account of road building as a political project reshaping ancestral lands, food systems, forest cover, and biodiversity in southern Palawan. </p> <p> References: </p> <p> Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben, et al. (2014) “Where and how are roads endangering mammals in Southeast Asia’s forests?.” <em>PloS one</em> 9.12 (2014): e115376. </p> <p> Dressler, W. (2021). Defending lands and forests: NGO histories, everyday struggles, and extraordinary violence in the Philippines. <em>Critical Asian Studies</em>, <em>53</em>(3), 380-411. </p> <p> Mason, D., Dressler, W., & Novellino, D. (2025). Extracting Value, Losing Ground: The Critical Minerals Boom in Palawan. <em>New Mandala</em>. June 13, 2025. <a href="https://www.newmandala.org/extracting-value-losing-ground-the-critical-minerals-boom-in-palawan/">https://www.newmandala.org/extracting-value-losing-ground-the-critical-minerals-boom-in-palawan/</a> </p> <p> Nolos, R. C., Zamroni, A., & Evina, K. F. P. (2023). Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Palawan, Philippines: an analysis using social-ecological systems (SES) and institutional analysis and development (IAD) approaches. <em>Geography, environment, sustainability</em>, <em>15</em>(4), 44-56. </p> <p> Reddiar, I. B., & Osti, M. (2022). Quantifying transportation infrastructure pressure on Southeast Asian World Heritage forests. <em>Biological conservation</em>, <em>270</em>, 109564. </p> <p> Sze, J. S., Childs, D. Z., Carrasco, L. R., & Edwards, D. P. (2022). Indigenous lands in protected areas have high forest integrity across the tropics. <em>Current Biology</em>, <em>32</em>(22), 4949-4956. </p>

Colleagues,

Please share this great PhD scholarship opportunity on the political ecology of roads in the Philippines. Fully funded, relocation support, etc. Ethnographic skills, willing to learn Filipino, strong GPA essential. @pollenetwork.bsky.social

findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/opportunity/...

CSSH mourns the loss of Vicente Rafael, esteemed scholar and generous contributor to our journal.

sites.lsa.umich.edu/cssh/2026/02...

Vicente Rafael, Historian, 70 Vicente Rafael in 2016 being interviewed by a student. Photo: University of Washington Vicente L. Rafael (February 16, 1956 – February 21, 2026) was a pioneering historian of the Philippines whose …

A fine tribute to Vince Rafael from Geronimo Cristobal. It made me recall Vince talking about his early training with Fr John Schumacher SJ, the historian of Jesuit science, at Ateneo. I suspect that's why Vince initially was interested in my work on colonial science in the Philippines...

We’re hiring! 📢📢📢

The Open Encyclopedia of #Anthropology is looking for a new editorial team. Join us in strengthening #OpenAccess publishing and shaping the future of our discipline.

Applications welcome from individuals or groups.

Please share widely! 🌎🌍🌏

docs.google.com/document/u/1...

We're looking for a one-year Teaching Fellow to start in August 2025. Come and join our team! We're receiving applications until 4th July.

elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

A summer school on this theme would be helpful??

Social Anthropology Away Day 2025 ✨

Discussing our values, contemporary anthropology and what we love about our work in Edinburgh on the sun-kissed roof of the National Museum of Scotland.

#anthropology #edinburgh @uoe-sps.bsky.social

Poster of Lotte Hoek’s inaugural lecture, ‘For an anthropology of the screen’.

This Friday, 9th May, we’re celebrating Lotte Hoek’s (@mediaautomatiek.bsky.social) promotion as Professor of Cultural Anthropology. She will give her inaugural lecture, ‘For an anthropology of the screen’. If you’re in the vicinity, please come and join us.

www.sps.ed.ac.uk/news-events/...

"The history of corruption/anti-corruption has been a popular struggle over what politics should look like."

New on FirstView, "A Thousand Years of #Corruption: A History of Corruption and Anti-corruption in the #Philippines since 1946" by Marco Garrido.

doi.org/10.1017/S001...

Poster for Atreyee Sen's Seminar at the University of Edinburgh

“Unpacking a sacking: Moral outrage and female workplace precarity in peri-urban India” by Dr. Atreyee Sen

We look forward to welcome Dr. Sen to the Anthropology Seminar to discuss thee dynamics of moral surveillance of digitally literate, young professional women in India. Join us!

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Medicine without Doctors) at The University of Edinburgh Explore an exciting academic career as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Medicine without Doctors). Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

🚨Job Klaxon🚨

Seeking a post-doc for 5.5 years (!) on our brand new @medicinewithoutdoctors.org project!

The candidate will be working with @cathm.bsky.social and the wider team to lead on playful, design-based methodological collaboration.

Deadline 31 March 2025

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMD146/p...

There are three more Social Anthropology seminars coming up this semester in Edinburgh!

Don’t miss our brilliant speakers:

✨ Nafis Hasan (14/3)

✨ Atreyee Sen (21/3)

✨ Pooyan Tamimi Arab (28/3)

Fridays, 3-5pm, Chrystal Macmillan Building, all welcome!

#anthropology @pooyan1983.bsky.social

Jason De León's photo

photo of young men beside a railway track

Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling Thursday, 27 March 2025, 17.15 MacLaren Stuart Room, G. 159 Old College

In this Munro Lecture, Professor Jason De León will present stories from his recent book ("Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling") and examine the complicated relationship among transnational gangs, the human smuggling industry, and migrant desires for safety and well-being.

We're excited to host @jasondeleon.bsky.social's Munro Lecture later this month:

Soldiers & Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
27 March 2015, 17.15
MacLaren Stuart Room G. 159 Old College

This event is open to all: jasondeleon.eventbrite.co.uk

@uoe-sps.bsky.social

Profile photograph of Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

We could not be prouder of our former Social Anthropology PhD student Dr. Amarasuriya, who was appointed Sri Lanka’s first woman prime minister in 24 years. She was sworn in on 24 September 2024. Her intelligence, integrity, and empathy, have since marked her tenure. #AnthroSky #Anthropology

👇

Hello everyone! 👋 We're a bit late, but looking forward to posting here often and re(connecting) with you. In the meantime, please give us a follow and repost this. 😊 #AnthroSky #Anthropology

Applications are now open for 2025-26 Fellowships at IASH, with 60 places available! Apply here: www.iash.ed.ac.uk/application-...

Senior/mid-career programmes close 28 Feb.
Postdoctoral/early-career programmes close 25 April.

See our Fellowship pages for details: www.iash.ed.ac.uk/fellowship-p...

*️⃣*️⃣*️⃣ AE FORUM (52.1): I Was Wrong *️⃣*️⃣*️⃣

“What even the cowherds and women know”:
Everyday life and its promise

by Veena Das
#anthrosky #anthropology

Find it here: ⬇️ americanethnologist.org/journal/issu...

How about a kinship studies starter pack?

Please let me know if you’d like to be included (or removed). And please share!

Cc: @wennergrenorg.bsky.social

Great news. Congratulations!

Done!

After seven years of rejections and revisions, my article "Affective assemblages of kinship and single mothers’ labour migration from a ‘climate hotspot’" is now published with
the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
OA: Please check it out!

On Monday, 9th Dec, we're hosting a hybrid seminar by Gabriel Scheidecker (Zurich). His talk will introduce the field of global parenting interventions, and point out the relevance of the anthropology of kinship and encourage a critical exchange between these fields
www.sps.ed.ac.uk/news-event/e...

Anthropologists! There's a new call for special issues out with Social Analysis. Deadline is 15 Jan 2025 - please get in touch if any questions www.berghahnjournals.com/fileasset/sa...

Call for Contributions: Restorative Relations, the 2025 SCA Biennial Restorative Relations: An Unconference The 2025 SCA Biennial May 8-11, 2025 Stony Point Center; Stony Point, New York Submissions due by Friday, ...

👇CFP for the SCA Biennial UNconference, Restorative Relations

Here’s the starting point: does the thought of attending another academic conference elicit fatigue and burnout instead of excitement and possibility? Can it be different?

This is gonna be GOOD!

@culanth.bsky.social #anthrosky

🤣

Abe Simpson talking to the kiddos

It was called LiveJournal and you told the whole world what you wouldn’t even share with your therapist

Burning diagrams in anthropology: an inverse museum, by Tristan Partridge, featuring some abstract diagrams on the cover

love it when a book is published specifically for me (on diagrams in anthropology!) punctumbooks.com/titles/burni...

Lecturer in Medical Anthropology - Canberra / ACT, ACT, Australia Classification: Academic Level BSalary package: $112,916 - $128,026 per annum plus 17% superannuation Term: Full time, Continuing Location: Canberra / ACT The opportunity to work within a colla...

Our department at Australian National University is hiring in medical #anthropology. It’s Level B (continuing), equivalent to Assistant Professor. PhD must be in hand (not abd unfortunately). Closing end of Jan. Please spread the word! jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/lecture...

Call for Submissions: ASEAS 2025 Conference “Global Southeast Asia: Continuity and Change” St John’s College, University of Cambridge, 15–17 September 2025 The conference organising committee of the Association of Southeast Asian Studies (AS…

#CFP “Global Southeast Asia: Continuity and Change,” Association of Southeast Asian Studies conference at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, September 15-17, 2025. Submit paper and panel abstracts by April 30 for consideration.