School of Social and Political Science

Cormac Cleary

PhD Student

Cormac Cleary
cormac.cleary@ed.ac.uk

Research interests

Cultural Heritage Energy, environment and sustainability Race and decolonial thought Science, knowledge and policy

Gaelic, Scotland, biodiversity, conservation, food systems, climate change, extinction, indigeneity.

Background

My ESRC-funded research examines the intersections and tensions between efforts at the preservation of Gaelic language, heritage, and culture and nature conservation in the Western Isles of Scotland, based on 2 years of ethnographic fieldwork in South Uist. I have previous research experience with a fishing community in southwest Ireland, and a professional background in environmental management and the arts. 

 

Education

Trinity College Dublin (2009-2013) BA Drama Studies and Sociology

SOAS, University of London (2014-2016) MA Anthropology of Food

University of Edinburgh (2018-2019) MScR Social Anthropology

University of Edinburgh (2019- ) PhD Social Anthropology

 

Funding

2018: SGSSS/ESRC 1+3 PhD Studentship

 

Publications (peer reviewed)

Cleary, C. 2021. 'Alive with Seals': Seal-Fishery Conflict and the Conservation Conversation in Ireland. Irish Journal of Anthropology 24(1).

 

Conference Presentations

"The Wrong Kind of Octopus: Fieldnotes on Primary Production, Localism, and Edibility in an Island Foodscape." Bridg'it Network Conference 2022

"Cleaning Up their Mess: Taking Responsibility for Coastal Plastic Pollution in the Western Isles," ASA Conference 2021

"Experimenting on Animals: Taking the nonhuman seriously in social science ethics," SOMA Symposium 2019

 

Panels Convened

"The human-animal divide: contesting knowledge production and practices," SIEF Congress 2021

 

Memberships

Associate Fellow, Higher Education Academy

 

Teaching

Tutoring, University of Edinburgh

Sociology 2b: Researching Social Life (UG) (2019)

People First: The Anthropology of International Development (PG) (2020)

Anthropology and Environment (UG Honours) (2021)

Introduction to Social Anthropology (UG) (2021)

Ethnography: Theory and Practice (UG) (2022)

Social Life and Climate Change (UG) (2022)

 

Lecturing, University of Edinburgh

Guest Lecture in Social Life and Climate Change (2022): Planting: The Social Life of Trees

 

Other Positions

Co-convenor, EASA Environment and Anthropology Network

Co-editor, Graduate Journal of Food Studies, 2019-2022.

Works within