Tanja Dittfeld

Tanja Dittfeld is a Danish Australian-based feminist, LGBTQ+ activist and aspiring academic. Tanja is currently in Uganda where she is conducting long-term fieldwork in collaboration with two local LGBTQ+ civil society organisations for her PhD with the University of Sydney. Drawing on virtual participatory methods, her research explores how LGBTQ+ activists and organisations negotiate and navigate the trans/national conflicts over social change, political (state) power, and global hierarchies in which their activism is embedded. Shortly after commencing her PhD, Tanja won the Sydney School of Education and Social Work’s award for best research paper with her paper “Africa as homophobic, Homosexuality as ‘unAfrican’: The dangers of a singular story for LGBT+ activism in Uganda.” Viewing civil society as a quintessential actor and space for promoting social justice, Tanja has worked with socially excluded and marginalised groups including sex workers, people living with and affected by HIV, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ persons within civil society organisations in a variety of contexts including Denmark, Thailand, Uganda and Zambia. Most recently, she worked as a project manager for the AIDS-Foundation in Denmark where she spearheaded three national projects that each in their way furthered the sexual health and rights of men who have sex with men. When her pracademic hat needs airing, Tanja enjoys diving, hiking and trying very hard to determine which café has the best coffee in Sydney.

Updated April 2020