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Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Photo: UHH/Ohme

Coral Iris O'Brian

Coral Iris O'Brian

Photo: Coral Iris O'Brian

Research Associate

Address

Universität Hamburg
Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, West (ESA W)
20146 Hamburg

Contact


I am a PhD candidate in the interdisciplinary climate project CLICCS (climate, climatic change, and society). My doctoral research explores how the increase of high severity wildfires frames engagement in shifting forms of forest management and forest future imaginaries. Local perspectives in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA constitute my ethnographic study of new social collaborations and fragmentations, which emerge as a result of this changing forestspace.

Curriculum Vitae

11/2019 Research Associate, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Hamburg

01/2019 Master of Arts in Medical Anthropology, Health and Society of South Asia, Thesis: “The Practice of Be(e)ing with Bees: Making Care in the Anthropocene” (ethnography of farmers and beekeepers in Gujarat, India)

03/2018-05/2018 Field work in Gujarat, India as part of the Master’s thesis funded by DAAD

 12/2017- 04/2019 Student Research Assistant for DIALOGIK, a non-profit research institute focusing on navigating complex processes of communication in health and the environment

 10/2016-01/2019 MA of Medical Anthropology, Health and Society of South Asia, University of Heidelberg

 05/2015 Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (major) with focus on Global Health and Sustainability, and Public Health (minor)

 01/2014-05/2014 Semester abroad at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, Copenhagen, Denmark (Public Health and Sociology)

 09/2013-12/2014 Semester abroad at Manipal University, Karnataka, India (Public Health and Anthropology)

 09/2011- 05/2015 BA International Studies at American University, Washington, D.C.

 1992 born in Vermont, USA

 

Research Interests

  • Environmental Anthropology
  • Social Landscapes and Agricultural Ethnoecologies
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Anthropology of the Future
  • Regional: India and United States

Publications

Schnegg, Michael., O’Brian, Coral Iris. & Sievert, Inga Janina. 2021. “It’s Our Fault: A Global Comparison of Different Ways of Explaining Climate Change.” Human Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-021-00229-w

Wachinger, Gisela., Keilholz, Patrick. & O’Brian, Coral. 2018.“The Difficult Path from Perception to Precautionary Action—Participatory Modeling as a Practical Tool to Overcome the Risk Perception Paradox in Flood Preparedness.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 9, 472–485. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13753-018-0203-8

Berker, R., G. Wachinger, F. Dembski, R. Fritz, I. Erzikgeit, J. Goder, E. Fauth, S. K. Wist, A. Schaffrin and M. Koppel. Contributors: Roland Fritz, Ilse Erzikgeit, Martin Koppel, Coral O'Brian et al. 2020. Kommunale Planung: Bürger erfolgreich beteiligen, Kohlhammer (Municipal Planning: Successfully Involving Citizens).