Dr Niro Kandasamy
Dr Niro Kandasamy is a lecturer in the Discipline of History in the School of Humanities, where she teaches International and Global Studies and researches the historical dimensions of conflict, refugee resettlement, international relations, and transnational activism. Before joining the University of Sydney, she was teaching in Melbourne and held senior research roles in non-government organisations. She has held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford and York University, and has been interviewed on the BBC, ABC, SBS, and numerous other media.
- Refugee history
- Indian Ocean geopolitics
- Memory and History
- Transnational activism
- Disability in the Global South
INGS1003: International and Global Studies
INGS2602: The End of Empire and New States
- The Australian Historical Association
- South Asian Studies Association of Australia
- Asian Studies Association of Australia
- Memory Studies Association
- 2022 ABC Top 5
- 2021 Australian Historical Association Copyright Agency Award.
- 2020 Contemporary Histories Research Group Award in History.
- 2020 The Dennis-Wettenhall prize for the best PhD in History by the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, the University of Melbourne. My thesis was subsequently nominated by the School for the Chancellor’s Prize for the best PhD thesis.
- 2019 The Gilbert Postdoctoral Development Fellowship, the University of Melbourne.
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| Aid memoir: the role of narrative in shaping humanitarian knowledge and practice after the Cold War. | Thomas BAMFORTH |
Publications
Edited Books
- Kandasamy, N., Perera, N., Ratnam, C. (2020). A Sense of Viidu: The (Re)creation of Home by the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Australia. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
Book Chapters
- Kandasamy, N., Soldatic, K. (2021). Going beyond disability identity and creating communities of belonging: Perception management and gendered disability advocacy. In Karen Soldatic and Dinesha Samararatne (Eds.), Women with Disabilities as Agents of Peace, Change and Rights: Experiences from Sri Lanka, (pp. 16-31). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., Ratnarajan, S. (2021). Music, resistance and change: the gendered-disability performativity of a Tamil woman with multiple disabilities. In Karen Soldatic and Dinesha Samararatne (Eds.), Women with Disabilities as Agents of Peace, Change and Rights: Experiences from Sri Lanka, (pp. 32-45). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., Perera, B. (2021). Raging (e)motions. In Karen Soldatic and Dinesha Samararatne (Eds.), Women with Disabilities as Agents of Peace, Change and Rights: Experiences from Sri Lanka, (pp. 46-59). Abingdon: Routledge.
Journals
- Kandasamy, N. (2024). Asylum Denial Beyond Borders: The International Dimensions of British Responses to Tamil Asylum Seekers in the 1980s. History Workshop Journal, , 1-23. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N. (2024). Indian Ocean Internationalisms: The Sri Lankan Pursuit of Peace, 1971–89. Journal of Contemporary History, , 1-17. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., McDonnell, M. (2024). Powerful Stories: Indigenous and Refugee Histories of Dispossession and Displacement in Settler Colonies. Journal of Intercultural Studies, , 1-19. [More Information]
2024
- Kandasamy, N. (2024). Asylum Denial Beyond Borders: The International Dimensions of British Responses to Tamil Asylum Seekers in the 1980s. History Workshop Journal, , 1-23. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N. (2024). Indian Ocean Internationalisms: The Sri Lankan Pursuit of Peace, 1971–89. Journal of Contemporary History, , 1-17. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., McDonnell, M. (2024). Powerful Stories: Indigenous and Refugee Histories of Dispossession and Displacement in Settler Colonies. Journal of Intercultural Studies, , 1-19. [More Information]
2022
- Kandasamy, N. (2022). Militarised Peace and Bilateral Relations in the Indian Ocean: Australia's Relations with Sri Lanka, 1972-1989. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 68(3), 428-446. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., Avery, L., Soldatic, K. (2022). Networks and Contested Identities in the Refugee Journey. Social Inclusion, 10(4), 194-199. [More Information]
2021
- Kandasamy, N., Soldatic, K. (2021). Going beyond disability identity and creating communities of belonging: Perception management and gendered disability advocacy. In Karen Soldatic and Dinesha Samararatne (Eds.), Women with Disabilities as Agents of Peace, Change and Rights: Experiences from Sri Lanka, (pp. 16-31). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., Ratnarajan, S. (2021). Music, resistance and change: the gendered-disability performativity of a Tamil woman with multiple disabilities. In Karen Soldatic and Dinesha Samararatne (Eds.), Women with Disabilities as Agents of Peace, Change and Rights: Experiences from Sri Lanka, (pp. 32-45). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., Perera, B. (2021). Raging (e)motions. In Karen Soldatic and Dinesha Samararatne (Eds.), Women with Disabilities as Agents of Peace, Change and Rights: Experiences from Sri Lanka, (pp. 46-59). Abingdon: Routledge.
2020
- Kandasamy, N., Perera, N., Ratnam, C. (2020). A Sense of Viidu: The (Re)creation of Home by the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Australia. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., Perera, N., Ratnam, C. (2020). Conclusion: (Re)creating home- remembering the past, looking to the future. A Sense of Viidu: The (Re)creation of Home by the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Australia, (pp. 159-165). London: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N. (2020). Home, continuities and resistance: Memory activism in the aftermath of Sri Lanka's civil war. A Sense of Viidu: The (Re)creation of Home by the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Australia, (pp. 53-69). London: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
2019
- Kandasamy, N. (2019). Memory and war: Tamil women's experiences of Sri Lanka's civil war. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(15), 2661-2679. [More Information]
2018
- Kandasamy, N., Soldatic, K. (2018). Implications for Practice: Exploring the Impacts of Government Contracts on Refugee Settlement Services in Rural and Urban Australia. Australian Social Work, 71(1), 111-119. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N. (2018). Unravelling Memories of Family Separation Among Sri Lankan Tamils Resettled in Australia, 1983-2000. Immigrants and Minorities, 36(2), 143-160. [More Information]
2017
- Kandasamy, N. (2017). An unequal partnership: resettlement service providers in Australia. Forced Migration Review (English Edition), 54, 41-43.
- Kandasamy, N., Soldatic, K., Samararatne, D. (2017). Peace, justice and disabled women's advocacy: Tamil women with disabilities in rural post-conflict Sri Lanka. Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 33(1), 41-59. [More Information]
- Kandasamy, N., Soldatic, K., Samararatne, D. (2017). Southern gendered disability reflections: The everyday experiences of rural women with disabilities after the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. In Karen Soldatic, Kelley Johnson (Eds.), Disability and Rurality: Identity, Gender and Belonging, (pp. 110-126). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2022
- Investigating new strategies for active ageing among diasporas: Working with Tamil communities to tell their stories and investigating Tamil Wikipedia as a platform for cultural resilience, active ageing and the intergenerational transfer of knowledge., Avieson B, Banu Soletti A, McCreery C, Raju S, Spencer M, Kandasamy N, Office of Global Engagement/Partnership Collaboration Awards
In the media
'Asylum Denial Beyond Borders', History Workshop Journal -https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/migration/asylum-denial-beyond-borders/
Fulbright Scholars Awarded at Sydney, University of Sydney News, 5 February 2024
Sanmuhanathan, N., and Kandasamy, N. (2023), “Our survival is conditional”: The trauma of Tamil refugees amid their struggle for a place of safety” in ABC Religion & Ethics. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/religion/trauma-of-tamil-refugees-and-the-struggle-for-safety/102061982
Kandasamy, N. (2022) “The Sri Lankan state is using violence to unleash fury on its citizens, as its political and economic crisis deepens” in The Conversation. Available from:
https://theconversation.com/the-sri-lankan-state-is-using-violence-to-unleash-fury-on-its-citizens-as-its-political-and-economic-crisis-deepens-182937
“The ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka” in the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Available from:
https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/the-ongoing-crisis-in-sri-lanka/
“Stay Woke reminded me of the importance of telling stories of injustice by those most affected by it” in The Conversation. Available from:
https://theconversation.com/stay-woke-reminded-me-of-the-importance-of-telling-stories-of-injustice-by-those-most-affected-by-it-180577
Why do Tamil asylum seekers need protection – and why does the Australian government say they don't?, The Conversation, 15 June 2021
Refugee Communities as Agents of Historical Change: Tamil Refugee Responses during the Coronavirus Pandemic, The Critical Refugee Studies Collective, 14 May 2021
Australia in the Indian Ocean: Why More Needs to be Done,Australian Policy and History, 3 Feb 2021
Sri Lanka election: will the country see a return to strongman politics?,The Conversation, 15 Nov 2019
Not ‘all is forgiven’ for asylum seekers returned to Sri Lanka,The Conversation, 10 March 2017
