about Holly High

I am an anthropologist, do fieldwork in Laos and use ethnographic methods and anthropological analysis to understand human experience. I was trained at Australian National University, and have held postdoctoral positions at Yale, Cambridge, Sydney, and Geelong.

I have written about anthropological approaches to debt, power and desire; psychoanalytic theory and anthropology; Lao policy (including cultural, poverty, health and agricultural policies) in relation to lived experience in that country; everyday politics in Laos; emerging infectious disease as an intercultural zone; and religion in Laos.

Currently, I am investigating transformations in pregnancy, birth and early childhood in Laos.

My profile on ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8772-9678

Fellowships

Jul 2021 to Jun 2025
Future Fellow, funded by the Australian Research Council

Jul 2018 to Jun 2019
Brown Fellow, The University Equity Fellowships (now Prizes), Sydney University

Jan 2012 to 2017
Discovery Early Career Research Award, funded by the Australian Research Council

Sep 2010 to 2012
Research Fellow, Clare Hall, The University of Cambridge

Jan 2010 to Jan 2012
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Social Anthropology, The University of Cambridge

2005 to 2006
Postdoctoral Fellow, Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University

Employment

since Jul 2021
Associate Professorial Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Insitute of Globalisation and Citizenship, Deakin University

Jul 2020 to Jun 2021
Chair of Anthropology, Sydney University

Jan 2020 to present
Associate Professor, Sydney University

Jan 2012 to 2019
Senior Lecturer, Sydney University

Jul 2007 to 2012
Lecturer, Sydney University

June 2006 to July 2007
Lecturer, Anthropology, Deakin University

Education

2000 to 2006 PhD in Anthropology, Australian National University

1994 to 1998 BA (Hons) Australian National University, Majors: anthropology, development studies