Jillian Sabetian

Jillian Sabetian has a BA in Social Anthropology and graduated under the tutelage of Professor Richard Walter from the University of Otago. She has since gone onto completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Policy Studies and a Master of Applied Social work from Auckland University of Technology and Massey University, respectively. She is an indigenous Solomon Islander from Kolombangara Island, and traces her genealogy to both Kolombangara and North Malaita. She has provided her linguistic, cultural and ethnographic knowledge to various research projects, graduate students, management and conservation initiatives over the past 25 years. Having spent her formative years growing up in the Solomon Islands, and her adult life shared between New Zealand and Solomon Islands, Jillian crosses the cultural boundary with ease and provides invaluable insight into the complexities foreign researchers often face in indigenous settings.