Sally Babidge

Associate Professor Sally Babidge is a sociocultural anthropologist at the University of Queensland's School of Social Science, affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. She currently directs the Master of Development Practice program and the Bachelor of Social Science curriculum. Her research focuses on the social and cultural dimensions of ecological/economic change driven by extractive industries, particularly their impacts on Indigenous communities in Australia and Chile.

Education: Postgraduate Diploma in Education (James Cook University), PhD (James Cook University). Research expertise includes ethnographic methodologies emphasizing sustained community engagement, water governance, and critiques of neoliberal extractivism. Notable works include Groundwater Politics: Advanced Extractivism and Slow Resistance (2025) and Aboriginal Family and the State (2010). Her work analyzes groundwater politics, lithium extraction's 'green economy' paradoxes, and contested notions of transparency in mining reporting.

Teaching responsibilities include anthropology undergraduate programs, honours theory/methodology modules, and development practice program design. Supervises HDR students on topics like water futures, territorial relations, and decolonial/feminist methodologies. Collaborates internationally through research partnerships in northern Chile and Australia.

Recent research explores groundwater's cultural politics, lithium extraction's environmental justice implications, and Indigenous epistemologies in resisting extractivism. Films co-created with collaborators critically examine mining impacts on community futures. Ethnographic work emphasizes ethical research practices with Indigenous partners.