Pacific women’s experiences working in universities in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Pacific women’s narratives offer insight into how universities currently under-serve and exclude Pacific communities in their everyday practices. Utilising a women-centred Pacific research methodology (masi methodology) this article shares the results of talanoa with twenty-seven Pacific women who collectively represent 216 years of experience working in New Zealand universities. Pacific women’s stories indicate that we continue to experience the devaluing and exclusion of Pacific knowledge, negative effects of neo-liberalisation, excess labour, and multiple exclusion practices. Importantly these narratives further develop our understandings of desirable diversity and excess labour and how these two concepts interact with each other.

KEYWORDS:

• Women
• university
• Pacific
• New Zealand

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all the collaborators in this project. I learnt so much about being a Pacific woman in higher education. Your journeys are inspiring and your continued presence in higher education institutions will continue to push our communities towards success. Thank you for sharing your navigation stories, I look forward to joining you on the journey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded in part by the University of British Columbia’s Public Scholars Program and the University of British Columbia’s Indigenous PhD fellowship.