Harriet Mercer

Research Topic

Colonising Climate 

I am fascinated by that apparent constant in world history: migration. My previous undergraduate and masters research has been on how the mass migrations of the long nineteenth century shaped ideas of race and gender and the practice of empire, especially in the Australasian region. More recently, I have become interested in the ecological dimensions of migration and migration control, looking at the movement not only of humans but also of plants, animals, technologies and ideas of nature. My current research asks how these entangled human and non-human movements shaped understandings of climate in the Australasian region. 

Supervisors:
Professor James Belich, Dr Erica Charters 

Funding bodies:
General Sir John Monash Scholar
Clarendon Scholar