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Staff profile

Overview

Evelyn Anca

PhD Candidate

Affiliations
Affiliation
PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology

Biography

I'm Evelyn (Evi) Anca, a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Durham University. My research, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Northern Bridge Consortium and supervised by Professors Jo Setchell, Paolo Fortis and Max Price, sits at the intersection of anthropology and primatology and adopts an ethnoprimatological approach to examine human-primate relations among the Indigenous Shipibo-Konibo of the Peruvian Amazon. Building on my MSc research conducted in 2022, I continue to collaborate with Shipibo communities in the Ucayali region, exploring the importance of primates in Shipibo lives, how these relationships have changed over time, and the implications of these changes for both primate conservation and Shipibo livelihoods. Combining ethnographic methods with ecological surveys, I investigate how Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, and broader sociocultural and ecological changes shape interactions between people and primates. I am particularly interested in collaborative approaches to knowledge production and participatory research, and I work closely with the Peruvian NGO Neotropical Primate Conservation.

Alongside my academic research and commitment to primate conservation, I am interested in broader questions surrounding human-nature and human-wildlife relations, including plastic pollution and the illegal wildlife trade. As the director of the NGO Plastic Free Israel (2018-2025), I have been involved in advocacy, policy initiatives, public awareness, and educational projects addressing plastic pollution and its impact on wildlife, nature and humans. I continue to contribute to these efforts today as an independent advocate and researcher. I am particularly interested in the impact of plastic pollution on primates and their habitats, including contributing to policy and outreach efforts highlighting plastic pollution as an emerging threat to primates. I have also been involved in promoting research, policy, and legislation relating to the illegal wildlife trade in Israel. 

Beyond academia and advocacy, I am a multidisciplinary wildlife artist. I create art using various mediums such as sculpting with plastic waste, drawing, painting and photography to support conservation initiatives and raise awareness of issues including plastic pollution, endangered species, and the illegal wildlife trade. I am interested in creative ways to visualise and communicate research beyond academia, through media and public engagement and visual art.

Research interests

  • Human-primate interactions
  • Primate conservation
  • Ethnoprimatology
  • Indigenous knowledge
  • Multispecies ethnography
  • Plastic pollution
  • Wildlife trade
  • Amazonia

Publications

Journal Article