Aarhus University Seal

Johanne Tarpgaard – New PhD at the department of Anthropology

As of 1 March Johanne will be part of the research project BLUE: Multispecies ethnographies of oceans in Crises and will be working on a project that examine plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean.

My name is Johanne Tarpgaard and I am a new PhD student at the Department of Anthropology from the 1st of March. Holding a MA in Anthropology from Aarhus University (2017), I am excited to be back at the research environment at Moesgaard.

For my master thesis I conducted fieldwork with the environmental organization Plastic Change and looked at how environmental organizations work to generate attention to plastic pollution. I build on these experiences and continues earlier research experience on board research vessels with NGO members and scientists as they track and study marine plastic debris through the Pacific Ocean. I am curious about how thinking in and with oceans can help us gain new understandings of the anthropogenic and ecological crises that our time faces – and in knowing more about human, non-human and ocean interactions with methods that combine traditional ethnographic methods with natural science methods.

My PhD project is part of the research project BLUE. An anthropologically anchored but interdisciplinary project that utilizes ethnographic and natural science fieldwork methods to better understand the compounded threats that oceans face. The aim of the project is to conduct thickly textured, more-than-human, and situated analyses of four interlinked ocean crises. You can learn more about BLUE here: https://cas.au.dk/en/blue/

I am looking forward to meeting my new colleagues and excited to dive into the BLUE.


Contact: 

Johanne Tarpgaard 
Institut for Kultur og Samfund - Afdeling for Antropologi
Moesgård Allé 20
8270 Højbjerg

tarpgaard@cas.au.dk