Ludovic Coupaye

Ludovic Coupaye is a Lecturer in Material Culture Studies at the University College London (UCL) Department of Anthropology. He combines anthropology of techniques, anthropology of technology, and material culture studies to explore intersections between technical processes, social relations, and cosmologies in Oceania, particularly among the Abelam of Papua New Guinea.

• Academic curator of UCL Ethnographic collections
• Member of CREDO (Marseille) and Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale (Paris)
• Editorial board member: Techniques & Culture and Journal of Material Culture

Research Expertise:
Coupaye's work interrogates the ontology of technology and techniques through fieldwork on yam cultivation in Papua New Guinea, examining how technical processes materialize social relationships and cosmological knowledge. His theoretical framework integrates Actor-Network Theory, Frankfurt School critical theory, and Gilbert Simondon's ontogenesis concepts.

Publication Trends:
His scholarship focuses on materiality, technical agency, and the political implications of technology. Recent works analyze digital capitalism's ontogenesis, technocratic narratives, and the role of museums in material culture preservation. The decorated yam studies demonstrate how technical practices become social and cosmological statements.

Scientific Contributions:
Recipient of Wenner-Gren Foundation Workshop Grant (2013) for technological epistemology research. Co-developed comparative frameworks for francophone/anglophone anthropological approaches.

• PhD supervision on barkcloth practices (Kew Gardens/Indonesia), Pacific Northwest material culture, digital literacy in Panama, and Congolese resource dynamics
• Teaching: Digital Anthropology, Research Methods, Techniques & Technologies, Material Culture