| Job Title | Contact | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Lecturer in International Development |
E dot Gilberthorpe at uea dot ac dot uk
Tel: +44 (0)1603 59 1883 |
Arts 2.77 |
My research is concerned with the impact extractive industries have on indigenous livelihoods. I am particularly interested in the relationship between resource extraction and negative development factors, such as poverty, gender inequality and conflict and in the implications of the cultural incompatibilities that exist between large-scale corporations and small-scale societies. My current research aims to identify links between resource extraction and poverty by compiling an evidence base indicating income, consumption and investment in rural areas of Papua New Guinea to highlight the conditions that make people economically and socially vulnerable.
Research Students:
Augustine Rapa – UEA Scholarship and Oil Search Limited (Papua New Guinea) Research Scholarship.
Recommended links:
Oil Search Limited continue to support Emma’s work and that of her research students. For more information about Oil Search’s activity in Papua New Guinea visit http://www.oilsearch.com/
'From the Horse’s Mouth: perceptions of development from Papua New Guinea'
Emma’s testimonial film about oil extraction and mining in Papua New Guinea. As 2 major resource extraction industries face closure (Kutubu oil extraction and Ok Tedi copper/gold mine) in Papua New Guinea, indigenous people and corporate representatives were asked what 'development' and 'sustainable development' meant to them and what they thought the future would bring. View the film
N.B. The views and opinions expressed by Oil Search personnel in this film are those of the individuals concerned and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oil Search Limited.
Emma’s monograph ‘Development and Industry’ is available at here
Interdisciplinary and international research on resource extraction, corporate responsibility, viable development strategy, socio-economic security, sustainability, ethics and rapid social change. Qualitative, especially visual, and survey methodologies. Area expertise: Asia Pacific.
Research Groups: Politics, Governance and the State
Research
I have worked on a number of research projects:
This project aimed to enhance the postgraduate learning and teaching experience by providing postgraduate students with training in leadership, team working, teaching and organisation. Five postgraduate students took part in the project; they prepared one-day workshops on global issues and then delivered them to high school students from Grades 7-11 at three different schools. Data were collected, and is currently being analysed, on levels of knowledge about global issues at pre-university and university levels (1-3). A publication co-authored by all post-graduate participants is currently being developed for journal submission.
This project involved research in the Ok Tedi and Kutubu regions of Papua New Guinea and then drew findings into wider debates on resource extraction to identify patterns of industrial impingement. It included a one-day interdisciplinary conference, with contributions from anthropologists, geographers, geologists, lawyers and economists with case studies from South America, south-east Asia, Africa, Oceania and Russia. A forthcoming book that I will co-edit with Dr Gavin Hilson (Reading) brings these contributions together in a volume on sustainable development and resource extraction. The project also received significant in-kind funding from Oil Search Limited.
In this project I collaborated with Dr Stephen Lyon (Durham) and Professor Michael Fischer (Kent). The project developed a range of e-learning tools to assist students working on development related problems in the social sciences. We produced a meta description of the content of the film From the Horse's Mouth: Perceptions of Development from Papua New Guinea (Gilberthorpe 2005), and video exercises tailored around the key issues it raised – environmental destruction, cultural heritage, built environments, consumption, sustainability. The project is currently in the final stages and the output is being disseminated to major development-focussed institutions in Europe, Australia and the Americas.
This project investigated the value of combining ethnographic and visual media to facilitate knowledge transfer in development contexts. Building on data collected during previous ethnographic fieldwork (2000, 2003) I used visual media to record people’s perceptions of development in two areas affected by resource extraction in Papua New Guinea – Ok Tedi and Kutubu. The finished edited film 'From the Horse’s Mouth: perceptions of development from Papua New Guinea' (Gilberthorpe 2005) aims to show the diverse perceptions of those caught up in the process of resource extraction, by juxtaposing the views of corporate personnel with landowners and non-landowners. As two major resource extraction industries face closure (Kutubu oil extraction and Ok Tedi copper/gold mine) in Papua New Guinea, Indigenous people and corporate representatives were asked what 'development' and 'sustainable development' meant to them and what they thought the future would bring. The issues raised in the film include: sustainable development, mining, oil extraction, Ok Tedi, Kutubu, the Papua New Guinea state, Oil Search Limited, the anthropology of resource extraction, industrial impacts, indigenous rights and transparency. NB: The views presented by Oil Search personnel are personal and do not necessarily represent the views of Oil Search Limited.
View the film below or on YouTube.
In 2003 I worked as a Research Assistant to Professor Paul Silltioe and Dr Robin Wilson (Durham University) on a large Nuffield-funded project in Papua New Guinea’s Ok Tedi region. I compiled structured questionnaires and collected data to compare mining royalty acquisition, measure levels of inequality in mining contexts and assess levels of mediation between the corporate sector and indigenous population.
My doctorate studies were fully funded by the Joint Venture Partners (JVP) for Petroleum Development, Papua New Guinea. This involved 14 months of research in Papua New Guinea, where I lived with the Fasu language group, hosts to the Kutubu Oil Project. Research in this area is ongoing and an ethnographic monograph based on my doctorate findings is currently in development.
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