Papers by Rohini Balram
Challenging hegemony Indo-Fijians, Roy Krishna, and the New Global South Masculinities, 2025
School of Education and the School of Social Sciences. Rohini's research projects centre on gende... more School of Education and the School of Social Sciences. Rohini's research projects centre on gender, ethnicity, race, class and other socio-cultural issues surrounding, sporting platforms, CALD communities, ageing citizens, people with disabilities, refugees and other minority and marginalised groups. Rohini has completed a doctoral dissertation at Western Sydney University in 2022, titled: Indo-Fijian women as subversive bodies in Fiji's sporting arenas: An Arts based study.
In Fiji, Indo-Fijians constitute the second largest community after Indigenous Fijians. Indo-Fiji... more In Fiji, Indo-Fijians constitute the second largest community after Indigenous Fijians. Indo-Fijian women face gender and racial inequalities to access sports and Physical Education (PE) in Fijian high schools. To gain a comprehensive view of the sporting realities of these young women, an ethnographic study was carried out with 12 young Indo-Fijian women via participant observations and semi-structured interviews, which were driven by sporting experience-related photographs taken by the participants and participant-voiced free verses. This chapter extracts four young women's experiences from the larger set of data and weaves a one-act play to holistically present their lived sporting experiences. This non-fiction creative piece captures the young women's colloquial words and artistic writings, thus creating a space where the reader can hear their voices and feel their sporting experiences too. We employ intersectional lenses together with Critical Race Theory (CRT) to look at the social factors that influence their sporting lives. The findings reveal that factors such as traditional gender norms, racism, age, classism and internal migration from rural co-ed to urban co-ed schools intersect at various levels to determine the segregation of Indo-Fijian girls from ‘mixed racial’ (team) sports. Moreover, in high school PE lessons, iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) interests are maintained in sports where PE lessons are focused on dominant sports (rugby, soccer and netball) with emphasis on competition rather than inclusive participation for all. Therefore, this paper supports the opening of pathways for Indo-Fijian girls and women to participate in sports so that they can exercise their rights as Fijian citizens.
Disability & society, May 20, 2024
Curriculum perspectives, Feb 27, 2024
This paper discusses the questions at the heart of the tussle between different types of knowledg... more This paper discusses the questions at the heart of the tussle between different types of knowledge within curricula that we conceptualise as 'curriculum wars'. Across the world, we see increasing instances of young people's radicalization around axes of race, religion, and gender. Viewing these developments side by side throws into question the various local, national, and global issues shaping young people's political education and action in liberal democracies experiencing ongoing shift away from liberal values. Through a comprehensive narrative review, we provide an overview of key themes that have been explored in recent research on curriculum, youth political education, and democracy in England and Australia. We find that young peoples' shift away from traditional electoral (big 'P') politics focussed on wider socio-economic issues to an individualised (small 'p') politics focussed on personal experiences poses serious curricular challenges-around content and modes of political education. Young peoples' unparalleled access to online information and digital affordances creates further need to include digital and media education within the political education curriculum. This educational challenge could prospectively be met by a curriculum that is collaborative, action-research and activist based. Such a curriculum addresses issues relevant to young people's lived realities including topics deemed 'controversial' for classrooms. Such an approach requires a perspectival shift away from youth as subjects of curricular reform to youth as collaborators and knowledge workers. We argue that critical literacy offers a practical and theoretical scaffold to conceptualise transformative and progressive youth political education and political action by emphasizing the need for socially justice focussed spaces for learning, reflection and action within schools and in communities.
Parallel Lives of Women: Experiences of Forced Migration and Life in Australia among Syrians and Sri Lankan Tamils, 2022
The Parallel Lives of Women (TPLW) research project is a collaboration between researchers from W... more The Parallel Lives of Women (TPLW) research project is a collaboration between researchers from Western Sydney University’s Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI), the Community Migrant Resource Centre (CMRC) and SydWest Multicultural Services (SydWest). The focus of the study was to understand how immigration policy intersects with the different policy areas of migration, housing, education, and health to affect the cultural well-being of two cohorts of women who are subject to vastly different visa restrictions while living in Australia. These were: 1. Sri Lankan Tamil Women who came to Australia by boat on or after 13 August 2012 and before 1 January 2014, and who have asked for Australia’s protection. 2. Syrian women who arrived in Australia within the last three years (2017-2020) as refugees from the Syrian conflict. These two cohorts were selected to explore the implications of different political treatment of women fleeing persecution and violence in their home country on their settlement experience in Greater Western Sydney (GWS), Australia. Specifically we focus on how the various types of visa category, and the different government services and entitlements that can be accessed, affect women from within Australia.
The study of the body in sport remains dominated by Western scholars examining Western bodies and... more The study of the body in sport remains dominated by Western scholars examining Western bodies and using Western conceptualisations of the body. Sports venues and agencies are complex locations for the production (and re-production) of whiteness because they deal with bodily practises that include material, social, and linguistic performances. Though mainstream sociology of the body research is founded within dualisms, often privileging one side of a binary opposition at the expense of another, a thread within Chinese philosophies cut across such dualistic categories. This chapter first outlines research in sport in various postcolonial contexts based on unsettling whiteness with a decolonisation perspective. It then points to an anthropocosmic perspective that departs from Western approaches that have informed a Euro-American centric tradition of embodiment research. It highlights the revelations in an anthropocosmic approach can bring to challenge dominant Western notions of performance culture predicated upon binary oppositions and more broadly the privilege of the body over mind and emotions. Thinking about decolonisation and embodiment with an anthropocosmic perspective this paper points to the future directions to rethink sport and bodily education and research.
Sport, Education and Society, 2022
Whilst other sporting narratives of girls and women from the Global North
have been well explored... more Whilst other sporting narratives of girls and women from the Global North
have been well explored, there is limited research about girls from a Fijian
background. Furthermore, within this ethnic/cultural group, their diverse
voices are not well understood. Indo-Fijian girls who are of a South Asian
background, and were born and reside in Fiji, are marginalised to a triple
degree in the country’s sporting platforms: they face gender inequalities
emanating from a patriarchal society; secondly, they are marginalised in
terms of race and ethnicity, thus not having access to the same sporting
opportunities that their iTaukei (Fijian natives) counterparts do,
especially in mixed-race team sports. Finally, Indo-Fijian girls are
economically disenfranchised, living in the peripheries of the Global
South, where they struggle with a lack of funding, inequitable policies
and an unstable political climate. This triple layer of marginalisation
deprives Indo-Fijian girls/young women of real opportunities and rights
in the sporting fields to play sports for better health and fitness as equal
Fijian citizens. This study reports on a one-year ethnographic research
and presents sporting narratives of young Indo-Fijian women aged
between 16 and 25 years from the capital city of Fiji. The data was
collected employing photo-elicitation interviews aiming to illuminate the
experiences and trajectories within formal and recreational sport and
physical activity of Indo-Fijian girls. The paper draws upon critical,
intersectional and poststructuralist theories to thematically analyse the
data. The young women’s narratives reveal that many times their athletic
pursuits and passion disrupt the Fijian gender, racial and class orders as
they consistently exercise their daily and sporting agency; sometimes
these girls also find themselves complying with the hegemonic gender/
racial order. This study amplifies local and marginalised voices of IndoFijian girls and emphasises the urgent need for inclusive and innovative
educational pathways for Indo-Fijian girls in Fiji’s schools, thus fulfilling
the country’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
This chapter provides a by no means a comprehensive understanding of all Asian societies that con... more This chapter provides a by no means a comprehensive understanding of all Asian societies that construct ethnicity through sport, as it is limited to those studies published in English which focus on rising superpowers, notably China, India, Japan and Korea. In other words, we have left out a massive amount of significant research published in the countries’ native languages. This points to the need to move towards post-monolingual research methodologies that complicate the privileged and taken-for-granted scholastic view of English-medium knowledge in this intellectual field.65 Alongside the lack of discussion of literatures from the native languages, this chapter also does not offer concentrated attention to the emerging themes in ethnicity in sport. Notably, the discussion points out that the intra-ethnic relations and ways in which ethnic minorities within Asian countries play out in sport are often undermined. Likewise, the inter-ethnic relations with other parts of Asia (includ...
This creative narrative is an auto ethnography based on sports, gender and race regarding margina... more This creative narrative is an auto ethnography based on sports, gender and race regarding marginalised/minority groups who don’t fit in the ‘White’ category or its binary. The Indo-Fijian women, who are of a South Asian background with a Pacific Island experience, (the ‘others’) are minorities at a triple degree. Firstly, they face gender inferiority in their Indo-Fijian communities; secondly, inequities in sporting opportunities (based on the common belief of their lack of physicality) against their iTaukei counterparts and finally living in a third world country with conservative cultures, limited sporting facilities and an inequitable PE curriculum deprives Indo-Fijian women of real opportunities in the sporting fields in comparison to privileged women in developed countries. For these reasons, the voice of the ‘other’ is necessary to make positive contributions as, there is a lack of no-white voices/researchers with no-northern views in this research area
Sport, Gender and Mega-Events, 2021
Report by Rohini Balram
The Double Bind: Care Transition Experiences of Ageing Informal Carers and People with Disability in Minority Migrant Communities, 2023
An important milestone in social care and social policy since the late 1990s is the continued opp... more An important milestone in social care and social policy since the late 1990s is the continued opportunity for persons with disability and their parents and/or family caregivers to have longer, enjoyable quality of life. However, as family carers, informal supporters and persons with disabilities age, their needs and expectations also change. Ageing family carers, usually parents, increasingly can no longer provide the quality and intensity of support and care required for their family members with disabilities. This puts additional pressure on informal long-term care and support relationships. It also threatens the future of care, especially for ageing carers from multicultural communities –who historically and continually find access to disability and other support services challenging in Australia. The intersection of migration and ageing in Australia presents a multifaceted challenge. The phenomenon of migration has led to a growing number of older Australians from multicultural backgrounds. The combination of the demographic shift, the trend of people living longer, as well as the evolving dynamics of informal caregiving for people with disabilities resulting from the ageing process means it is now imperative to gain insights into the experiences of ageing informal disability carers (hereinafter referred to as ‘AIDC’) from multicultural backgrounds, and their family member with disabilities. Understanding their perspectives on and preparations for this significant transition into the latter years of life is of the utmost importance. This project, therefore, aimed to work with multicultural communities in collaboration with the New South Wales (NSW) peak multicultural disabled people’s organisation, the Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association (MDAA), which advocates for people with disability, their families and carers in order to understand the care transition planning experiences of AIDC and their adult family members with disability. The overall goal is to use the findings of this pilot study to inform the design of an innovative multicultural care transition toolkit to support the care transition planning processes of multicultural families who provide informal disability care. There are profound uncertainties for the future of care and support for ageing carers and their adult children with disabilities in multicultural communities. The long-held assumption that these communities rely on an informal family support system is no longer tenable in the face of weakening intergenerational solidarity and the effect of acculturation into the Australian way of life of second and third-generation migrants. It is, therefore, imperative that stakeholders in multicultural disability support and care and aged care acknowledge the role of AIDC and the evolving context in which they provide care by designing tailored household interventions that support the care transition planning process for all concerned – the care and support providers within the family, and the person with disabilities who relies upon them. More importantly, there is the need for a deliberate multicultural policy response that recognises the voices, concerns, aspirations, and expectations of disability and aged caregiving in multicultural communities when designing tailored care transition services. The research recommends that disability advocacy and carer support organisations work towards strengthening and empowering ADIC and persons with disabilities to negotiate the care transition process, considering their personal cultural values, beliefs, gender, ethnoreligious, and family norms.
Fibonacci Forum: Creative Communities and Cultural Wellbeing Framework, 2023
The Fibonacci Forum Cultural Wellbeing Research engaged with 130 cultural practitioners from 8 se... more The Fibonacci Forum Cultural Wellbeing Research engaged with 130 cultural practitioners from 8 sectors to investigate the Cultural Wellbeing Framework within community. In each forum community practitioners presented their work and commented on how it related to the framework. In this way the forums could illuminate how important it is to understand and consider the wellbeing needs of a community. The framework is thus an important tool with which to evaluate the wellbeing needs of communities and also to document what is already being done. Therefore, the forums, together with the framework, were able to instigate conversations about wellbeing and potentially germinate new projects that embed cultural wellbeing from the start. Curating the forums (who was asked and why) brought in changemakers who were committed to bringing together arts and wellbeing with innovative strategies and models of creative expression that can send a community message about lived wellbeing. The research found that while many individual researchers and cultural practitioners incorporate arts, culture and wellbeing outcomes in their work, there is currently no Australian State or National body for Cultural Wellbeing. Such a body would make it easier for researchers and practitioners to advocate for the creative cultural wellbeing needs of their communities and work in a cross-sectoral way to address societal inequalities.
Thesis Chapters by Rohini Balram
Indo Fijian women as subversive bodies in Fiji's sporting arena an arts based study, 2022
Whilst other sporting stories of women from the Global North and Black vs. White binary are well ... more Whilst other sporting stories of women from the Global North and Black vs. White binary are well known, the local (Fijian) context (privileged Brown native vs. marginalised Brown (Indo-Fijian) settlers), is not. In Fiji, physicality is highly racialised and gendered, and Indo-Fijian women are most invisible in Fiji’s sporting arenas. Thus, the following research questions shape my dissertation: How do Indo-Fijian women perceive and make meaning about their physicality and gender in sport; How do local and global social constructs of gender impact young Indo-Fijian women’s sports participation in Fiji; How the attitudes, barriers/challenges, pleasures, and histories of resistance and opportunities of Indo-Fijian girls/women, influence their sports participation in Fiji, and how equitable, inclusive/exclusive and in/effective are Fiji schools’ Physical Education (PE) lessons in understanding, aiding and responding to Indo-Fijian girls’ cultural needs and perceptions of physical activity and sports? I have collected empirical data using arts-based methods, and drawn upon critical, intersectional and poststructuralist theories to study the sporting experiences of young Indo-Fijian women in Fiji. These theories and methods illuminated the multifaceted nuances that impact their sporting participation. The main findings challenge the previous stereotypes of Indo-Fijian women – lacking physicality and interest and being difficult to engage in sports. The findings disclose that athletic Indo-Fijian women disrupt the Fijian gender, racial and class orders by consistently exercising their sporting agency, and also actively negotiating PE and physical activity opportunities by pushing for innovative (team) sports despite their requests failing to penetrate the racial, gendered and orthodox perceptions of (PE) teachers and rigid practices within the legitimised curriculum. The dissertation provides suggestions for policy makers and relevant Fijian stakeholders such as schools, tertiary institutions, PE teachers/sports coaches and parents in valuing and acting on the requests and passions of Indo-Fijian women. It also emphasises the urgent need for inclusive and innovative pathways for girls and women in Fiji’s sporting arenas, thus fulfilling the country’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Uploads
Papers by Rohini Balram
have been well explored, there is limited research about girls from a Fijian
background. Furthermore, within this ethnic/cultural group, their diverse
voices are not well understood. Indo-Fijian girls who are of a South Asian
background, and were born and reside in Fiji, are marginalised to a triple
degree in the country’s sporting platforms: they face gender inequalities
emanating from a patriarchal society; secondly, they are marginalised in
terms of race and ethnicity, thus not having access to the same sporting
opportunities that their iTaukei (Fijian natives) counterparts do,
especially in mixed-race team sports. Finally, Indo-Fijian girls are
economically disenfranchised, living in the peripheries of the Global
South, where they struggle with a lack of funding, inequitable policies
and an unstable political climate. This triple layer of marginalisation
deprives Indo-Fijian girls/young women of real opportunities and rights
in the sporting fields to play sports for better health and fitness as equal
Fijian citizens. This study reports on a one-year ethnographic research
and presents sporting narratives of young Indo-Fijian women aged
between 16 and 25 years from the capital city of Fiji. The data was
collected employing photo-elicitation interviews aiming to illuminate the
experiences and trajectories within formal and recreational sport and
physical activity of Indo-Fijian girls. The paper draws upon critical,
intersectional and poststructuralist theories to thematically analyse the
data. The young women’s narratives reveal that many times their athletic
pursuits and passion disrupt the Fijian gender, racial and class orders as
they consistently exercise their daily and sporting agency; sometimes
these girls also find themselves complying with the hegemonic gender/
racial order. This study amplifies local and marginalised voices of IndoFijian girls and emphasises the urgent need for inclusive and innovative
educational pathways for Indo-Fijian girls in Fiji’s schools, thus fulfilling
the country’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Report by Rohini Balram
Thesis Chapters by Rohini Balram
have been well explored, there is limited research about girls from a Fijian
background. Furthermore, within this ethnic/cultural group, their diverse
voices are not well understood. Indo-Fijian girls who are of a South Asian
background, and were born and reside in Fiji, are marginalised to a triple
degree in the country’s sporting platforms: they face gender inequalities
emanating from a patriarchal society; secondly, they are marginalised in
terms of race and ethnicity, thus not having access to the same sporting
opportunities that their iTaukei (Fijian natives) counterparts do,
especially in mixed-race team sports. Finally, Indo-Fijian girls are
economically disenfranchised, living in the peripheries of the Global
South, where they struggle with a lack of funding, inequitable policies
and an unstable political climate. This triple layer of marginalisation
deprives Indo-Fijian girls/young women of real opportunities and rights
in the sporting fields to play sports for better health and fitness as equal
Fijian citizens. This study reports on a one-year ethnographic research
and presents sporting narratives of young Indo-Fijian women aged
between 16 and 25 years from the capital city of Fiji. The data was
collected employing photo-elicitation interviews aiming to illuminate the
experiences and trajectories within formal and recreational sport and
physical activity of Indo-Fijian girls. The paper draws upon critical,
intersectional and poststructuralist theories to thematically analyse the
data. The young women’s narratives reveal that many times their athletic
pursuits and passion disrupt the Fijian gender, racial and class orders as
they consistently exercise their daily and sporting agency; sometimes
these girls also find themselves complying with the hegemonic gender/
racial order. This study amplifies local and marginalised voices of IndoFijian girls and emphasises the urgent need for inclusive and innovative
educational pathways for Indo-Fijian girls in Fiji’s schools, thus fulfilling
the country’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).