Tanya King
Staff memberTanya King is a maritime/environmental anthropologist interested in issues relating to natural resource management.
Tanya’s current research interests relate to mental health in the fishing industry and the role of environmental policy in securing fisher well-being.
Other interests include gender, anthropological pedagogy, public policy and consultation, mythical sea creatures, and the cultural aspects of water management and infrastructure development, with a focus on issues of procedural justice.
Tanya’s PhD considered the introduction of ITQs to the Australian Bass Strait shark fishery.
-
Research
Tanya currently is producing outputs from a major research project on the physical and mental health of Australian commercial wild-catch fishers. Findings and preliminary releases from this project have led to an industry and government focus on, and significant increased funding towards, improving mental health in the sector.
-
Publications
2020 (in press). King, Tanya J, David Boarder Giles, Mythily Meher and Hannah Gould. ‘Anthropology and #Metoo: Reimagining Fieldwork’. The Australian Journal of Anthropology.
2019 King, Tanya J and Gary Robinson (eds.) At Home on the Waves: Human Habitation of the Sea from the Mesolithic to Today London: Berghahn Books.
2019 King, Tanya J, Kirsten Abernethy, Susan Brumby, Tracey Hatherell, Sue Kilpatrick, Katarina Munksgaard and Rachel Turner. Sustainable Fishing Families, Developing industry human capital through health, wellbeing, safety and resilience. FRDC Project No 2016/400
2019 King, Tanya J. ‘Formal and informal territoriality’, in King, Tanya J and Gary Robinson (eds.) At Home on the Waves: Human Habitation of the Sea from the Mesolithic to Today London: Berghahn Books.
2018 King, Tanya J and Dayne O’Meara. ‘“The people have spoken”: When cultural narratives politically trump the best available science (BAS)’. Maritime Studies (MAST).
-
Teaching
Tanya teaches Environmental Anthropology, a unit that explores contemporary environmental conflicts both in Australian and international contexts (most notably in Palestine/Israel).
Tanya also teaches Anthropology of Poverty and Development, which considers the role of environmental tourism in development contexts, as well as the ongoing role of colonialism in the dispossession of people (primarily) in the Global South.
Commencing in 2021, Tanya will teach a new unit entitled Culture, Law and Universal Rights, incorporating considerations of customary law, legal pluralism, and arguments for universal rights. This unit also considers the contextual factors that impact how laws are enacted, including historical, political, and economic factors, and considerations of power.
-
Supervision
Current supervision – Public perceptions of water sources in the Geelong region (Christina Semasingha)
Honours and PhD supervision topics include: environmental conflict, resource use and sharing, sustainability, environmental perception and valuation.
-
Awards, fellowships, and honours
2019 Faculty of Arts and Education Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence
2009 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching
2009 Deakin University Award for Teaching Excellence
2008 Faculty of Arts and Education Individual Early Career Teaching Award
-
Media and public events
Tanya can be found on Twitter @cultureaqua
A selection of Tanya’s other media engagements:
2020 King, Tanya ‘Thanks for all the fis … hang on a minute’ – The Age (op ed). February 10
2017 Davis, Jess. ‘Fishermen haunted by depression and stress, says Deakin University’ – ABC
2017 Luby, Miranda. ‘Why are Australians so laid back?’ – BBC Travel
2015 Marino, Melissa. ‘Maritime Anthropology: It’s personal’ Fisheries Research Development Corporation FISH Magazine, Researcher Profile, 23(4):38-9
2012 King, TJ and D Ooi ‘Solving water security: don’t ignore the public’ – The Conversation Sept.