What I’m researching at the moment

Presently, I am working on my dissertation, an environmental history of insects in colonial Malaya (contemporary peninsular Malaysia and Singapore). So I guess I will eventually be an insect historian…?

In more words, my project strives to look at what insect-human interactions in plantations, cities, and other Malayan landscapes can tell us about environmental change, public health, entomological science, and imperialism.

What insects will I look at? At the moment, I’m going through records on the coconut rhinoceros beetle, but I will eventually also look at locusts, mosquitoes, termites, butterflies, and moths.

Picture taken from G.H. Corbett’s 1932 Insects of Coconuts in Malaya.

I am keen to have collaborative, interdisciplinary conversations about this topic – or actually about many other topics, so please feel free to reach out if you want to chit chat, talk story, or find out more! I promise not to be boring.