Postdoctoral Affiliate
Biography
Dr Bastian Thomsen is a Postdoctoral Affiliate in the School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford, and a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of Sustainability at the University of Sydney Business School. Bastian completed his DPhil in Anthropology from Oxford (2022), under the supervision of Prof. Andy Gosler and Dr Thomas Cousins. His thesis, "The Precarity of Nonhuman Livelihoods: Rethinking Speciesism in a Genocidal State", examined the grey wolf's return to the western US over the past 25 years to explore wildlife-human relations in the US during the Trump Administration. Bastian also holds a PhD in Management with a focus on Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability from Central Queensland University (2018). He is a member of The Ethno-ornithology World Atlas Research Group at the University of Oxford and a member of the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney. He is open to research collaborations and supervising Higher Degree Research students (Primary at USyd; Secondary at Oxford).
Research Interests
Bastian's research focuses on multispecies relations in the Anthropocene, and how humans organize pluralistic responses to the climate emergency, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem governance. He draws on theories from environmental anthropology, sustainability, rewilding, social innovation, education, gender, subaltern studies, organization studies, social entrepreneurship, decolonial ecology, multispecies livelihoods, ethnoornithology, veterinary anthropology, multispecies justice, animal ethics, multispecies ethnography, STS studies, one-health, and one-welfare, with ongoing research projects in Costa Rica, Italy, US, UK, and Australia.
Current DPhil Students
Sarah Coose, DPhil Student in Biology, The Ethnoornithology World Atlas Research Group, Co-Supervisor (Prof. Andrew Gosler Primary Supervisor)
Recent Publications:
Thomsen, Bastian, Kellen Copeland, Michael Harte, Olav Muurlink, Daniel Villar, Benjamin H. Mirin, Samuel R. Fennell...Andrew Gosler. "Embracing “more-than-Western” bird knowledge: A decolonial process to move from discussion to action." Ornithological Applications (2024).
Villar, D. A., Bastian Thomsen, Anahi Cosky Paca-Condori, Edwin R. Gutiérrez Tito, Paula Velásquez-Noriega, Edilio Mamani, Mario Arivilca Vilca, Edmundo G. Moreno Terrazas, Jorgelina Marino, and Andrew G. Gosler. "Indigenous–Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence in the Altiplano." Journal of Ethnobiology (2024): 02780771241246856.
Thomsen, Bastian, Jennifer Thomsen, Kellen Copeland, Sarah Coose, Emily Arnold, Haydn Bryan, Karl Prokop et al. "Multispecies livelihoods: A posthumanist approach to wildlife ecotourism that promotes animal ethics." Journal of Sustainable Tourism 31, no. 5 (2023): 1195-1213.
Thomsen, Bastian, Kellen Copeland, Samuel R. Fennell, Jennifer Thomsen, Michael Harte, Anant Deshwalt, Jon Maxwell et al. "The promise of posthumanism in wildlife ecotourism: A set of case studies of veterinarians’ role at wildlife rehabilitation centers in Costa Rica." Journal of Ecotourism (2023): 1-19.
Thomsen, Bastian, Thomas Cousins, Kellen Copeland, Jennifer Thomsen, Sarah Coose, Abigail Mensah, Samuel R. Fennell et al. "Posthumanist pluralities: Advocating for nonhuman species’ rights, agency, and welfare in ecosystem governance." In Advances in Ecological Research, vol. 66, pp. 117-146. Academic Press, 2022.
