Anthropology Beyond the Academy with Dr Patrick O'Hare and Jess Staufenberg Tuesday 21st October
Anthropology, Journalism, and the Global Plastics Treaty
Jess Staufenberg (Cambridge BA Social Anthropology 2012) and Patrick O’Hare (Cambridge PhD Social Anthropology 2017) both met at the UN Global Plastics Treaty (GPT) talks in South Korea in late 2024 as part of efforts to reach a globally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.
In conversation, Jess and Patrick will discuss how their different trajectories brought them to the GPT negotiations, how anthropological knowledge and training can be used beyond the academy in the world of policy and investigative journalism and, with the GPT negotiations in crisis, whether it really is possible to solve the wicked problem of plastic pollution.
Patrick is a social anthropologist at the University of St Andrews who has been advising the International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP) at the GPT talks, while Jess is an investigative journalist at Source Material who has been researching plastic credits, and whether they are part of the problem or the solution to plastics pollution.
Chair: Professor Sian Lazar