Dr Richard Irvine

Dr Richard Irvine

Senior Lecturer

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 1857
Email
rdgi@st-andrews.ac.uk
Office
Room 2
Location
United Colleges
Office hours
Tuesday 3pm-5pm

 

Biography

My research interests span environmental anthropology and the anthropology of religion, and I carry out fieldwork in the UK and Mongolia.

Recent projects have focused on how humans transform landscapes, and the political, economic, and cosmological conflicts around those transformations. Peatlands and former peatlands have become a particular fieldwork focus for this area of research. I am also interested in society's capacity to perceive and respond to environmental change, and how we become locked into particular patterns of living. Out of this has grown an interest in time horizons and the relationship between human life cycles and the deep time of geological processes, which I explore in my book (Cambridge University Press, 2020).

I also have an ongoing interest in the study of religion. My PhD (University of Cambridge, 2011) examined Catholic religious life through fieldwork in an English Benedictine monastery. Building on this, my most recent book (Scottish Universities Press, 2025) is a close study of the rhythms and challenges of community life, considering the importance of stability in a world of movement and fleeting interaction, and how religious institutions endure and change through time.

My current work combines these interests through a focus on how apocalypse shapes our time horizons, and the relevance of classic anthropological theories of millenarianism for the prospect of contemporary life. I am also interested in the relevance of monastic accounts of acedia, the 'noonday demon' - a loss of care - for a contemporary understanding of boredom, isolation, and depression.

Teaching

The modules I currently convene are: Anthropology of Learning and Cognition; Anthropology of Catastrophe; and Methodological and Philosophical Issues in Social Anthropology. I have previously convened modules on Research Methods and Anthropology and History.

I chaired the most recent review of our sub-honours curriculum, which I then implemented during my time as Director of Teaching.

PhD supervision

  • Bimbo Omopo
  • Aneirin Pendragon

Selected publications

  • Open access
    Irvine, R. D. G., 20 May 2025, Edinburgh: Scottish Universities Press (SUP). 272 p.

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Irvine, R., Jul 2020, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 220 p. (New departures in anthropology)

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Open access
    Irvine, R. D. G., Bodenhorn, B., Lee, E. & Amarbayasgalan, D., 27 Dec 2019, In: Current Anthropology. 60, 6, p. 723-740

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Irvine, R. D. G., 1 May 2018, In: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 24, 2, p. 366-384 19 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Irvine, R. D. G., 1 May 2018, In: Environmental Humanities. 10, 1, p. 257-272 16 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Irvine, R. D. G., 1 Mar 2017, In: Sociological Review. 65, 1_suppl, p. 154-170 17 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Irvine, R., 1 Jan 2014, In: Social Anthropology. 22, 2, p. 157-172 16 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Irvine, R. D. G. & Gorji, M., 2013, In: Cambridge Anthropology. 31, 1, p. 119-132

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Irvine, R. D. G., 2011, In: etnofoor. 23, 1, p. 29-49

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Irvine, R. D. G., 1 Dec 2010, In: Culture and Religion. 11, 4, p. 395-411 17 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review