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| Mark Collins
Postdoctoral Fellow
Centre for Pacific Studies
University of St Andrews (United Kingdom)
Website(s):
[ https://www.mark-collins.eu ]
I speak in the following language(s): French, English, German, Tok Pisin, Tungag, Spanish, Italian
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About |
Research fellow in anthropology at the University of St Andrews University (Scotland)
My research in anthropology is concerned with the social and cultural aspects of marine interspecies relations, that is relations between different species living in and around the sea, in particular people and fish. The main site of my fieldwork is on the island of Lavongai (or New Hanover), in Western Oceania, where I was in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025 for a total of 17 months. There, I studied fishing activities, in particular ritual practices aiming to influence the behaviour of fish, marine ethno-biology, ethno-ichtyology, and also ethno-ornithology. |
Specialities |
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Discipline(s) |
Environmental sciences
Anthropology
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Member of |
Société des Océanistes (SdO)  European Society for Oceanists (ESfO) Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) |
Geographic administrative areas |
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Geographic places |
Melanesia
Papua New Guinea
New Ireland province
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Historical periods |
21st century
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Indigenous languages |
Tungag, Tok Pisin |
Download the CV |
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Experiences |
PhD Research (2020 to 2024)
— Aix-Marseille Université, Credo (Aix-Marseille Univ/CNRS/EHESS, Marseille)
Anthropology of nature. Marine anthropology. Human-environment relations. Multispecies ethnography. Papua New Guinea. Oceania. Twelve months fieldwork on Lavongai. Generalist ethnography and more specific, focused work on relations with marine animals, fishing, magical practices aiming to influence fish. Production of an inventory of local knowledge regarding fish, birds, and other coastal animals.Academic Position (February 2 to February 2)
— Centre for Pacific Studies, St Andrews University (Scotland) with funding from the Fyssen foundation
Two month ethnographic fieldwork on Lavongai focused on clan-based social organisation and the ‘totemic’ relationship it implies with birds (interviews and collective discussions). Restitution of previous PhD work to local participants. Authoring of one article on the main project topic, and co-authoring of two others on adjacent topics. Participation in research seminar.Academic Position (October 20 to December 2)
— Credo (Aix-Marseille Univ/CNRS/EHESS), Labex Corail
Collective preliminary reflection with Credo researchers. Development of two database prototypes in Heurist and Omeka-S for the comparison of qualitative data regarding relations between various human societies and living species (animals, plants, and others). |
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