If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Fearless speech or parrhesia.
Favourite food?
I have to say Goan food. It represents connection to my ancestral homeland, as well as to my family. It has sustained me through multiple migrations and immediately evokes comfort and nurturance.
What do you think is an important feminist issue in Australia at the moment?
The policies of detention and deterrence that are being invoked in the state management of asylum seekers
Why are you a member of AWGSA?
As a relative newcomer to Australia, I want to be involved in the inter-disciplinary conversations happening in feminist spaces. I attended the conference in Melbourne two years ago and made some great new friends. As a nurse socialised into a very gendered hierarchy, I have a unique contribution to makes as a feminist woman of colour, but I don’t want to be limited to conversations only within my discipline.
If you could have been at one historical event, which one would it have been?
Being a diasporic Goan I would have been interested in being at the liberation/Invasion of Goa by the Indian government.
Who are your academic/feminist heroes?
Octavia Butler (overcoming shyness, having self-belief and being committed to her writing), Audre Lorde (for living with illness, for her writing), Angela Davis (for her activism).
Where would you like to live?
Exactly where I live now, South Gippsland.
What do you appreciate most about your friends?
I’d have to say conversations that are energising, learning, rich and which mean that the friendship continues to deepen and has potential for depth and transformation.
Favourite book?
Too many to count but I’ve just been reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories and am awed by her ability to draw you into her character’s worlds. Another favourite was Americanah by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
A goal?
To learn more about the Aboriginal history of Australia and Aboriginal feminists. Not in an appropriative way but to be a better ally.