![Dr Rachel Smith Dr Rachel Smith](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/s05rs1/avatar/DbpTWPcpcXbScWFGzNL1DXKJLLJJ1A7map5YqkKb.jpeg)
PhD, MRes, BSocSci (Hons), AFHEA
Lecturer
- About
-
- Email Address
- rachel.smith1@abdn.ac.uk
- School/Department
- School of Social Science
Biography
I am a Lecturer in Anthropology and Museum Studies. I have a background in economic anthropology, and anthropology of religion, and long-standing interests in material and visual culture, and museums.
My core research focuses on local perspectives on development and social change in Vanuatu, in the Western Pacific. My doctoral project (2011-2016) focused on the ‘domestic moral economy’ in a rural Vanuatu community undergoing economic transformation due to a high degree of engagement in a labour mobility programme, touted as a ‘triple win’, ‘pro-poor’ alternative to development aid.
My most recent research project (since 2018) extends my interest in work, consumption, moral economy, development, and value by focusing on the ethics and economy of kava, a crop traditionally grown and consumed as a relaxant beverage across the Pacific. International demand for this commodity has soared, and kava is widely spoken of as ‘green gold’ by rural farmers in Vanuatu and Fiji, where it has become the main export commodity. In both the labour migration and kava projects I am interested in how socio-economic change is mediated by semiotic, material, and ritual processes.
In addition to my work in economic anthropology, I continue to collaborate with an interdisciplinary team, including from Psychology and Neuroscience, formed at Stanford for the Templeton-funded ‘Mind and Spirit’ project (2016-2018). Through interdisciplinary and mixed method research, we examined the relation between understandings of mind and self, and religious experience. This has led to a range of workshops and publications, including scientific articles in PNAS and Nature Human Behavior.
I have also published from archival research on land and labour in Vanuatu, and am developing research interests based on ethnobotanical and Scottish Pacific collections.
If you are a prospective PhD students interested in any of the above areas/themes- please contact me via the 'Accepting PhDs' link above/on the Research tab.
Qualifications
- PhD Social Anthropology2016 - University of Manchester
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
-
Honorary Curatorial Fellow, Museums and Special Collections
Museum and Special Collections Academic Forum
Library Representative for Anthropology
Coordinator, Scottish Training in Anthropological Research (STAR) postgraduate programme
Personal Tutor
- External Memberships
-
Associate Fellow of Advance HE (AFHEA)
Editorial Board, FocaalBlog https://www.focaalblog.com/
Latest Publications
Work/Labour
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and DictionariesCompulsion to Work?: Malinowski and the Labour Question
One Hundred Years of Argonauts: Malinowski, Ethnography and Economic Anthropology. Hann, C., James, D. (eds.). 1 edition. Berghahn Books, pp. 97-116, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/9781805395218
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Rising Tide: Art and Environment in Oceania: Exhibition Review
Museum WorldsContributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesSimilarities and differences in concepts of mental life among adults and children in five cultures
Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 5, pp. 1358–1368Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01184-8
The Meaning of “Free” Work: Service as a Gift, and Labor as a Commodity for Ni-Vanuatu Labor Migrants
WORK, SOCIETY AND THE ETHICAL SELF: Chimeras of Freedom in the Neoliberal Era. Hann, C. (ed.). Berghahn Books, pp. 27-48Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
- Research
-
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Anthropology, Museum Studies.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Anthropology
Accepting PhDsMuseum Studies
Accepting PhDsResearch Specialisms
- Anthropology
- Social Anthropology
- Social Sciences
- Australasian Studies
- Religion in Society
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Collaborations
I continue to collaborate with colleagues on the interdisciplinary project, “Mind and Spirit” (2016-2018), funded by Templeton Foundation. PI: T.M Luhrmann (Stanford). Comparative interdisciplinary (Anthropology, Psychology, Neuroscience) research project on the relationship between representations of mind and spiritual experience, cross-culturally. Includes co-authored articles in leading scientific journals PNAS and Nature Human Behavior
Since 2023, i have been an associate researcher on the 5 year ERC funded project, "Properties of Units and Standards" [Units] project (PI: Matti Erasaari, University of Helsinki)- see https://blogs.helsinki.fi/units-and-standards/ for more information on this project.
Supervision
I welcome queries from prospective postgraduate research students, particularly those interested in political and economic anthropology, materialities, moralities, religion and cognition, and/or regional specialisations in the Pacific islands.
- Teaching
-
Programmes
- Undergraduate, 4 year, September start
- Postgraduate, 3 stage, September start
- Postgraduate, 3 stage, September start
- Publications
-
Page 1 of 1 Results 1 to 14 of 14
Work/Labour
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and DictionariesCompulsion to Work?: Malinowski and the Labour Question
One Hundred Years of Argonauts: Malinowski, Ethnography and Economic Anthropology. Hann, C., James, D. (eds.). 1 edition. Berghahn Books, pp. 97-116, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/9781805395218
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Rising Tide: Art and Environment in Oceania: Exhibition Review
Museum WorldsContributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesSimilarities and differences in concepts of mental life among adults and children in five cultures
Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 5, pp. 1358–1368Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01184-8
The Meaning of “Free” Work: Service as a Gift, and Labor as a Commodity for Ni-Vanuatu Labor Migrants
WORK, SOCIETY AND THE ETHICAL SELF: Chimeras of Freedom in the Neoliberal Era. Hann, C. (ed.). Berghahn Books, pp. 27-48Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersReply to Terhune and Jamieson: The nature of absorption
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 118, no. 32, e2109120118Contributions to Journals: Letters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109120118
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Declarations of ‘Self‐Reliance’: Alternative Visions of Dependency, Citizenship and Development in Vanuatu
Oceania, vol. 91, no. 2, pp. 236-256Contributions to Journals: ArticlesSensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faiths
PNAS, vol. 118, no. 5, e2016649118Contributions to Journals: ArticlesEmpowered imagination and mental vulnerability: local theory of mind and spiritual experience in Vanuatu
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 26, no. S1, pp. 114-130Contributions to Journals: ArticlesBe our guest/worker: reciprocal dependency and expressions of hospitality in Ni-Vanuatu overseas labour migration
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 349-367Contributions to Journals: ArticlesChanging Standards of Living: The Paradoxes of Building a Good Life in Rural Vanuatu
The Quest for the Good Life in Precarious Times: Ethnographic Perspectives on the Domestic Moral Economy. Gregory, C., Altman, J. (eds.). Australian National University (ANU), pp. 33-55Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersFrom Colonial Intrusions to 'Intimate Exclusions': Contesting Legal Title and 'Chiefly Title' to Land in Epi, Vanuatu
Kastom, property and ideology: Land transformations in Melanesia. McDonnell, S., Allen, M., Filer, C. (eds.). Australian National University (ANU), pp. 327-355Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersReview of "Pacific Futures: Projects, Politics and Interests. Pacific Perspectives, v. 2 by Will Rollason
Pacific Affairs, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 498-500Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesEngaging with Capitalism: Cases from Oceania
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 84-86Contributions to Journals: Review articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2014.981933