Greca N. Meloni

Environmental Anthropologist and Filmmaker

Current position

Post-doctoral researcher, University of Vienna

Email:

greca.nathascia.meloni@univie.ac.at

Languages

Italian, Sardinian, English, Spanish, German, French (reading)

Pronoun

Lei / sie-ihr / she-her

Awards

About me

My name is Greca Meloni, and I hold a PhD in Cultural Anthropology (2023, University of Vienna). I focus on the environment from a multispecies perspective. From 2016 to 2022, I conducted ethnographic research on beekeeping in Sardinia. In July 2018, the research project was awarded the DOC Fellowship by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The same project also received the prestigious Theodor Körner Prize (2021) and the Grete Mostny Prize (2024). Thanks to the latter, an abstract of the research was printed on a ceramic surface to be preserved in the Archive of the Memory of Mankind in the Hallstatt Salt Mines (Austria).

Currently, I am engaged in a new research project aimed at exploring the relationships between humans and non-humans in contexts where eucalyptus plants are present, primarily in Italy (Sardinia), Spain (Galicia), and Portugal (Minho).

I employ various visual techniques from a methodological perspective, including ethnographic filmmaking and drawing. My skills in this field stem largely from my foundational training at the Liceo Artistico Statale "Foiso Fois" in Cagliari. In this regard, Giampiero Mascia, Ferruccio Sulis, and especially Beatrice Artizzu have strongly influenced my work from an artistic standpoint.

Education and Research Interests

Ph.D in Cultural and European Anthropology (2023, University of Vienna - Austria).

2015 Master's Degree in Archaeology and History of Art at the University of Cagliari (Italy).

2014-2015 Erasmus student at the University of Wroclaw (Poland).

2012 Bachelor's Degree in Cultural Heritage at the University of Cagliari (Italy).

Identity, Heritigization, Human ecology, Nature/Culture, Human and animal relationship, Visual Anthropology, Beekeeping Sardinia

Working Experience

March 2024 - Current

July 2018- 2020

2018 - 2020

Post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Cultural And Social Anthropology of the University of Vienna

ÖAW Doc-Fellow at the Department of European Ethnology of the Univeristy of Vienna

External lecturer at the Department of European Ethnology of the University of Vienna

Teaching Experience

2025 SS

240030 VO BM7 Anthropology and Environment: an Introduction - Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien
240041 SE BM7 FbSE Multispecies Ethnography: Human- Bee- Plants relationships in Vienna - Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien

2024 WS

2024 SS

2019 SS

B220 EX+UE Forschungsfelder: Beekeeping - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien

23 febbraio 2019

"Dalle Api agli Umani. Percorsi di antropologia dell’abitare e del design", IED, Cagliari (Italia).

2018-2019 WS

VO+UE B330 Spezielle Methoden: Visual Ethnography - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien
SE M210: Kultur-Geschichte-Raum: The Anthropology of Cultural Heritage - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien

2018 SS

B430 Spezielle Theorien "Anthropology and Beekeeping"- Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien

Publications

Writing with beekeepers in a blog (2023)

in Writing Together. Kollaboratives Schreiben mit Personen aus dem Feld, (eds) Martina Blank, Sarah Nimführ, Bielefeld, Transcript Verlag.

Ma le api stanno morendo? Umani e non umani nella crisi ecologica (2022)

in Mediterraneaonline/ Naturalistica, Numero speciale Urban Nature 2022: 17,18.

Representing islands – producing islandness: Rethinking identities, mobilities, and relations in island research (2021)

Guest editor together with Sarah Nimführ, Island Studies Journal, Vol. 16, 2/2021: 3–17.

Una pianta che non deve stare lì. Giustizia ambientale e autoctonia nella Sardegna meridionale (2021)

in Antropologia, Vol. 8, 1/2021: 67–84. A-rated Journal (Rivista di fascia A).

Saperi condivisi, saperi in conflitto Etnografia dell’apicoltura in Sardegna (2018)

in Antropologia Pubblica, Vol. 4, 2/2018: 65–83.

Making Indigeneity: The Beekeeper’s Perspective (2018)

in On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture, 5: 1–22.

Beyond Anthropology. A Conversation with Tim Ingold (2018)

with L. Nieradzik, G. Wolfmayr, and B. Schmidt-Lauber, in Historische Anthropologie, Vol. 26, 2/2018: 245–50.

L’apicoltura in Sardegna: uno sguardo antropologico (2017)

In Api buridane, (ed.) Luigi Manias, Ales: Nur. 149–63.

Conferences

19-24.08.2024"Following the roots: an ethnography of the eucalyptus in Europe", WCEH2024, Oulu, Finland.

22-26.07.2024 " Unmaking forests: A case study on Eucalyptus in three European regions", EASA2024, Barcellona, Spain.

26-29.07.2022 “’Small’ agencies in Capitalocene landscapes: A case from South Sardinia”, 17th EASA Biennial Conference, Belfast, Ireland.

16-22.05.2022 “Wild, Domesticated, Native: Humans-Bees Relationship in Cultural Anthropology”, with Ignazio Floris (Uniss), First International meeting APIS SELVATICA, Pantelleria, Italy.

16-22.05.2022 “Le interazioni dell'uomo con le api. Testimonianze e racconti di un’isola del Mediterraneo (Sardegna, Italia)”, Ignazio Floris (Uniss), Greca N. Meloni, First International meeting APIS SELVATICA, Pantelleria, Italy.

22-25.09.2021 “Exploiting Nature to save Nature. A case from South Sardinia”, SIAC Conference “Future: Anthropologies of the Future, the Future of Anthropology”, Rome, Italy.

5.12.2020 “L’antropologia visuale accanto e oltre il film etnografico. L’immagine etnografica in un contesto post-digitale”, Festival ISREAL, Nuoro, Italy.

14.18.09.2020 “Experimental collaboration in beekeeping”, RAI Conference “Anthropology and Geography: Dialogues Past, Present and Future,” London, United Kingdom.

21-24.07.2020 “Making a 'good movie': Critical perspectives on the visual 'habitus' in the field”, EASA2020: New anthropological horizons in and beyond Europe, Lisbon Portugal.

28.11.2019 “A Co-Created Space. Islandness and Beekeeping in Sardinia”, Institutskolloquium des Instituts für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien, Austria.

25-30.09.2019 “A Co-Created Landscape: Environmental Management and Beekeeping in Sardinia (Italy)”, Deutscher Kongresse für Geographie, Kiel, Germany.

14-17.04.2019 “Negotiating the ‘Endless Island’. Landscape and Beekeeping in Sardinia”, SIEF2019: Track Changes: Reflecting on a transforming world, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

13-15 dicembre 2018, "La consapevolezza inter-specie e il ruolo dell’antropologo nel contesto dell’apicoltura sarda", VI Convegno Nazionale Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata, Cremona (Italia).

19-22 settembre 2018, "The Human-Bee-Environment relation: the case of the Sardinian beekeepers", Vienna Anthropology Days VANDA, University of Vienna, Wien.

11./12. gennaio 2018, "Making Honey- Making Identity. Policies and Beekeeping In Sardinia", 4. Internationale Doktorand*innentagung des "Interdisziplinären Netzwerks historische und ethnographische Forschung im Austausch", Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien, Wien (Österreich).

14-17 dicembre 2017, "Saperi condivisi, saperi in conflitto: co-managment dell'apicoltura in Sardegna", V Convegno Nazionale SIAA- Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata, University of Catania (Italy).

23 November 2017, "Beekeeping in Sardinia: Conflicts and policies", Institutskolloquium "Protest und Reformation", Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien.

16 luglio 2017, "Antropologia dell'apicoltura in Sardegna: Tra tutela della biodiversità e valorizzazione dei prodotti locali", Argea Guspini (Italia).

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