Matthew has ongoing projects that span the Arctic to East Africa. Using material culture as a lens, he seeks to foster an understanding of how social and environmental change impact inequality.

Technologies of Belonging in Sápmi

The Sámi—an Indigenous Arctic group who live in Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia—are best known for their reindeer herding, but practice a diverse range of lifeways. Matthew works with Sámi duodjárat (artisans), to understand how the production of material culture is used to stake claims to land. Using new digital technologies to foster access to museum collections for duodjárat, he seeks to support reconnection with local environments adversely impacted by state policy and climate change. 

Subsistence Transitions in East Africa

The Digiri and Omotik people of East Africa are best known for their honey keeping and hunting practices. Within living memory, many have adopted livestock and agriculture, heavily assimilating with adjacent groups like the Maasai. A number of other players—from missionaries to NGOs—have acted as active agents of change in the lives of hunter-gatherers.

Matthew studies ongoing shifts in subsistence strategies and their implications for social inequality amongst foragers. The work is equally relevant locally, at a time when many Indigenous groups are concerned about the pace of change of their contemporary lifestyles.