Eben Kirksey is a cultural anthropologist and award-winning author. Broadly speaking, his research and teaching relates to the environment, medical anthropology, continental philosophy, and human rights.

Kirksey is perhaps best known for his work in multispecies ethnography—an emerging field that considers how people interact with animals, microbes, plants, and fungi. Wide ranging interests—related to novel ecosystems, biological art, medical ethics, reproductive justice, CRISPR gene editing, and disability—are reflected in his diverse publications. Hope is a recurring theme in his work: not as naive optimism, but as a method for identifying fragile possibilities for life, justice, and peaceful coexistence. Currently he is studying how the human condition has been shaped by symbiotic viruses, biotechnology, chemical exposures, and capitalism.

As a pro-bono human rights expert, Eben Kirksey has long collaborated with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to advocate for justice in West Papua, a territory under Indonesian rule. Recently he has also been involved in advocacy and research related to multispecies justice and environmental sustainability.

“The Emergence of Multispecies Ethnography,” his co-authored article with Stefan Helmreich, has become a highly-cited text in anthropology and has influenced research agendas in science studies, geography, ecology, and the environmental humanities.

Personal website: https://eben-kirksey.space/