Join us as we delve into a panel and discussion considering how we as anthropologists approach and work in through ideas and fields of more-than-human anthropologies. So come gather with us and enjoy this conversation together. This online panel is the first in a series of two and will be hosted by ANSA member and Macquarie University ANSA unirep Sadaf Zahra.

Read on for more info about each of our panellists work:

Back-to-back: the worldmaking of Icelandic sheep wool from sheep to sweater - Liz Scarfe, Australian National University

Learning to perceive the more-than-human in the field

The concept of ‘more-than-human’ is incredibly generative both theoretically and in data collection, but learning to perceive the ‘more-than-human’, thinking through and with things, forces, and non-human persons, is more complex than it seems.

Liz Scarfe, currently undertaking fieldwork in Iceland, shares how time spent with pigs and wool mill machinery is helping her better perceive the more-than-human, including the two strategies she has found most useful so far.

Liz's research follows the transformation of Icelandic wool from fleece to sweater, positioning wool as an active agent in Icelandic worldmaking. Drawing on posthuman theoretical frameworks that position humans within dynamic assemblages of persons, things, and forces, her study examines the liveliness of wool in Icelandic natureculture.

Iceland was colonised by humans and sheep, both essential to the others survival. However, in contemporary Iceland, as the provision of warmth becomes more infrastructural and less material-relational, sheep are no longer essential to the survival of humans, thus changing the fundamental nature of their entanglement. This research explores the ways Icelanders, both sheep and human, ongoingly negotiate their cohabitation of place through the growing, making, and transformation of woollen fibres, entangled in various contemporary processes including globalisation, tourism, capital, and waste.

A bit more about Liz:

Liz Scarfe is a PhD candidate in the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology. After completing the Masters of Culture, Health and Medicine (Adv) in 2024, with a focus on trauma and settler-colonialism, Liz turns her research focus toward material culture and multi-species anthropology to follow wool around Iceland. As a keen wool crafter herself, Liz is curious to understand what wool ‘makes people do’ and how it does it. When not knitting or deep in study, Liz works part time in private practice as a psychotherapist and educator.

The experiences of Australian zookeepers, wildlife care takers and other non-human based professions - Kat Fletcher, Macquarie University

The experiences of Australian zookeepers, wildlife care takers and other non-human based professions offer an important insight into the possibilities multi-species knowledge and intimacy. Using philosophies of ecological animalism and object orientated ontology, I explore how care-based relationships with species who are biologically, ecologically, neurologically and socially distinct from humans can create new ways of understanding the conservation of non-human others. Our world is more-than-human, and through our interactions with other species, we allow ourselves to experience alternate ways of being. 

A bit more about Kat:

Kat is an early-career multispecies anthropologist. She completed a Master of Research on the Medicalisation of Companion Animals in Australia and is currently working on her PhD thesis. Kat's latest research attempts to explore the intimate knowledge, conflicts and important experiences of people who work closely with other species who are both genetically and socially separate from humans. Beyond her love and interest in anthropology, in her career, she aims to generate new knowledge that is useful to the vast conversation efforts and challenges faced in Australia and globally. 

Our annual visual anthropology competition is OPEN! Please submit your entries before the 31st October.

It's almost that time again! On 13th November at 12pm we will be holding our AGM.

Outgoing exec members will share their 2025 reports and we will elect a new exec for 2026! 

If you are curious about any of the exec roles (chair, secretary and web officer) please do feel free to reach out to any of the current exec - we are happy to chat!  Email: ansa.exec@gmail.com

You can read more about the AGM, nominating and voting procedures in our constitution. 

You can join us for the AGM on Zoom here.

If you would like to raise an agenda topic please contact your unirep or send us an email at ansa.exec@gmail.com, or the ANSA Executive team if your institution is not yet represented by 31st October.