IHOPE SSC Member Kristina Douglass named MacArthur Fellow
We are delighted to announce that IHOPE SSC Member Kristina Douglass, whose work bridges the human past with the planet’s future, has been named a 2025 MacArthur Fellow! Often referred to as the “genius grant,” the MacArthur Fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards in the United States. It recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional creativity, significant past achievement, and extraordinary potential for future contributions to their fields. The fellowship provides unrestricted support over five years, allowing recipients to pursue bold, innovative lines of inquiry and deepen the impact of their work.
Kristina centers her work on understanding how human societies have shaped—and been shaped by—the environments they inhabit. Much of her research is rooted in Madagascar, where she collaborates closely with local communities to uncover long-term histories of resource use, migration, environmental change, and cultural resilience. Trained as both an archaeologist and an anthropologist, she uses an interdisciplinary toolkit that includes archaeological excavation, paleoenvironmental science, historical linguistics, ethnography, and community-driven conservation approaches. Her work fundamentally challenges outdated narratives about human-environment interactions—especially the misconception that Madagascar’s ecological challenges stem solely from modern human activity. By examining deep-time records of settlement, land use, and biodiversity, Kristina reveals a far more nuanced story: for millennia, people have adapted to Madagascar’s dynamic ecosystems through diverse, flexible, and sustainable practices.
This focus on sustainability across time is one of her most influential contributions. By illuminating how past communities responded to environmental pressures, shifting climates, and changes in biodiversity, her work demonstrates that sustainability is not a modern invention but a deeply historical process. The strategies she uncovers—such as diversified subsistence practices, mobility, cooperative resource management, and cultural adaptation to ecological change—offer powerful insights for addressing the challenges of today’s warming world.
Kristina Douglass’s recognition as a MacArthur Fellow not only celebrates her groundbreaking research but also highlights IHOPE’s mission, demonstrating the importance of understanding the past to shape a sustainable future. Her work exemplifies how archaeology can inform global conversations about resilience, climate change, and environmental justice—helping contemporary societies imagine new pathways rooted in the lessons of those who came before us.