Michael Main

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Michael Main has a PhD in anthropology from the Australian National University. Michael’s doctoral research focussed on the Huli-speaking population of Hela Province in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) highlands, with a particular focus on armed conflict and gender-based violence. Michael’s research in Hela has also focused on the social and cultural impact of the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas project. Michael has a professional background in geology and environmental science, which has provided the basis for his interest in the anthropology of development and resource extraction, and associated social instability. In 2014 Michael completed a Master of Development Studies at The University of Melbourne, where he undertook field research on the environmental consequences of PNG’s Ok Tedi mine and the impact on West Papuan refugees living on the Fly River downstream from the mine.

Michael’s expertise has been utilised by various organisations including Jubilee Australia, Conciliation Resources, the NSW Environmental Defenders Office, and the United States Institute of Peace. Michael was one of ten independent expert reviewers of the Environmental Impact Statement for the Sepik Development Project and the Frieda River Mine proposed by PanAust, which led to the intervention of several UN Special Rapporteurs and a landowner case taken to the Australian National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct. Michael maintains a close working relationship with his Papua New Guinean colleagues and their peacebuilding work in Hela Province.

Experience

  • –present
    Visiting scholar, Australian National University
  • 2024–present
    Research affiliate, The University of Melbourne

Education

  • 2020 
    The Australian National University, PhD
  • 2014 
    The University of Melbourne, Master of Deveopment Studies
  • 1995 
    The University of Melbourne, BSc (Hons) Geology

Publications

  • 2021
    Absence as Immoral Act: The PNG LNG Project and the Impact of an Absent State, The Absent Presence of the State in Large-Scale Resource Extraction Projects
  • 2021
    The Land of Painted Bones: Warfare, Trauma, and History in Papua New Guinea's Hela Province, Anthropological Forum
  • 2021
    Media review of A Distant Thud in the Jungle (140 km à l'ouest du paradis) by Céline Rouzet, Journal of Pacific History
  • 2021
    From donation to handout: Resource wealth and transformations of inequality in Huli politics, Unequal Lives: Gender, Race and Class in the Western Pacific
  • 2019
    The Papua New Guinea Natural Gas Project and the moral decay of the universe, Disasters in popular orality
  • 2018
    Resources curse PNG communities’ future, East Asia Forum
  • 2018
    How PNG LNG Is Shaking Up the Earthquake, EnviroSociety

Professional Memberships

  • Fellow of the Australian Anthropological Society

Contact Michael for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision