July Ethnoforum: Ethical Problem Solving

This July, Ethnoforum will be focused on ‘ethical problem solving’!

When: Monday, 22 June - 12.30pm to 2pm

Where: The Linkway, Level 4, John Medley Building, The University of Melbourne

Moses and Yedzin will consider the challenge of ethically navigating unexpected issues when conducting fieldwork. 

Moses Mensah recently completed his doctoral studies at the University of Melbourne. He has worked in several administrative, research, and teaching roles at the University of Ghana, and at the University of Melbourne. He also works as a consultant for retail-sector technology firms in Australia. His current research focuses on the schooling experiences of indigenous rural youth as they navigate indigenous knowledge resources vis-à-vis the promise of neo-liberal modernity offered in the formal education system. Moses' research interests include the decolonization of education, indigenous knowledge technologies, agricultural innovation systems, and youth futures.

Yedzin Tobgay is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne’s School of Social and Political Sciences. Working across sectors and disciplines, Yedzin previously worked with multiple Bhutanese government institutions and agencies in varying capacities as a gender/social consultant. She also served as the youngest faculty member of the Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan’s leading tertiary institute. Her doctoral project explores the evolving role of land in her maternal village Haa, in rural Western Bhutan, where matrilineal land inheritance has long been the social norm. Employing decoloniality, indigeneity, and feminist anthropology, she seeks to understand what land means to rural women, how this meaning making and engagement with land undergoes changes and evolution, and how these processes engender new or shifting gender roles.

This is a discussion for researchers at all stages!