Viveca Mellegard

PhD Student

A headshot of Kew Researcher, Viveca Mellegard
Department

Science

Team

Science

Specialism

Craftsmanship; embodied practice; ethnobotany; film; natural indigo dyeing; social ecological resilience and development; visual methodologies

My PhD is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of the Techne Doctoral Training Partnership. I’m working in the Economic Botany Department on research linking Kew’s collections of Indigofera tinctoria from India to contemporary indigo production and dyeing in West Bengal. I am particularly interested in the knowledge and skills embedded in the craft of dyeing with natural indigo and how embodied practices can cultivate human-plant relationships. 

  • BA Honours: Spanish and Italian - University of Durham 
  • MSc: Social ecological resilience for sustainable development - Stockholm Resilience Centre at University of Stockholm

 

  • WWF Sweden: Baltic Ecoregion Programme
  • Viskogen: A Swedish development organisation supporting agroforestry projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda
  • Swedbio: A Swedish organisation using resilience thinking and natural based solutions into practical use for development in eastern and southern African countries
  • BBC: Director and Producer of science, history and arts programmes for BBC Two and BBC Four

Craftsmanship as a Carrier of Indigenous and Local Ecological Knowledge: Photographic Insights from Sámi Duodji and Archipelago Fishing

February 2020 Society and Natural Resources 33(10):1-21

DOI:10.1080/08941920.2020.1729911

Reviving indigo in West Bengal - natural indigo dyeing as an embodied practice for people and plants