My research bridges biological and sociocultural anthropology to explore how wild primates and humans shape one another through lived experience, mutual adaptation, and shared environments—offering insights that support more ethical, community-informed approaches to conservation.
In collaboration with Indonesian field assistants and researchers, I apply quantitative, field-based primate research techniques that combine long-term behavioral observation and hormone analysis to explore orangutan behavior and ecological adaptation in situ.
Drawing from sociocultural anthropology, I use interviews, field notes, and participant observation to understand local knowledge systems and human–orangutan relationships. These methods allow me to study conservation as a lived, culturally embedded practice.
By integrating these approaches, I aim to inform conservation strategies that are not only biologically sound but also ethically grounded and community-informed. My research contributes to broader efforts to foster coexistence in shared landscapes.
Informed by ethnoprimatology and human–animal studies, my work treats nonhuman primates as agentive beings. I explore how orangutans and humans co-create social and spatial worlds through mutual adaptation, habituation, and interaction.
Copyright © 2025 Dr. Laura Brubaker-Wittman - All Rights Reserved.
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