Yayi Zheng

Yayi Zheng works in the field of environmental anthropology and multispecies studies. Her PhD research examined the intersection between human-nonhuman relations and means of livelihoods as Borana people grapple with the political and economic shifts in Ethiopia since the 1970s. At Yale, Yayi will be developing publications based on her PhD thesis, as well as a new project that explores how well-intentioned efforts to increase meat exports and rural incomes may have negative environmental and vulnerability effects in Borana, Ethiopia. Her visit to Yale is supported by the Independent Research Fund Denmark.

Yayi received her PhD in Anthropology from Aarhus University and KU Leuven and an MSc in Anthropology from the London School of Economics. She previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oslo on a project that looks at the amber economy and post-mining livelihoods and landscape in northeastern China.