Professor Wolfram Dressler

A/Professor Wolfram Dressler does ethnographic research examining how regional political economic processes shape resource access and use, exchange relations and environmental change at different societal scales in Southeast Asia.

Since 1999, he has examined the historical origins and contemporary consequences of changing conservation practices on the livelihoods and landscapes of rural, resource-reliant peoples in insular Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. Through this frame he critically examines the spread, impact and outcomes of neoliberalism on conservation, livelihoods, and landscapes.

He recently completed work on the process and outcomes of indigenous social movements engaging ‘boom crop production’ and carbon governance in East Kalimantan. His other research interests include maritime transitions, fisheries decline and oceans governance.