Dr. Farzana Gounder | IPU New Zealand Tertiary Institute

Dr Farzana Gounder is a linguist and Deputy Head of School (Research) at IPU New Zealand Tertiary Institute.

Dr Gounder’s overarching research analyses the intersections of discourse, health, human security and migration. Her research has expanded from the platform of narrativized identity conceptualizations at the personal level to narratives within public spheres on conceptualizations and lived experiences of illness and healing as she seeks to make a difference in individual and collective lives.

One of her current research areas investigates how the lives of Pasifika people can be improved through greater utilization of cultural health knowledge. This is reflected in her research practices, as she aims to use data collection methods such as Talanoa, based on Pacific cultural ways of being. Simultaneously, she aims to demonstrate how a better understanding of Pacific ways of being would improve population health for all.

Dr Gounder has also co-developed a social determinants framework: https://farzanagounder.com/framework/ The CARE framework is developed with the understanding that people’s health is an outcome of events that have taken place over time and over generations. The framework analyses people’s health outcomes under the Indian indenture system, which occurred from 1830-1916 and under this system over a million people went to work in British, Dutch and French colonies around the world.

Dr Gounder’s research has achieved international recognition. Her PhD thesis on South Pacific diasporic communities’ narrative constructions was published as a monograph with an internationally renowned publisher in the field of linguistics Following its success, she received a second contract to produce an edited book on narratives and identity construction in the Pacific Islands. She is currently co-editing a series with Dr Maurits S. Hassankhan on Slavery and Indian indenture. Dr Gounder has also been invited to contribute to international conferences and journals on South Pacific diasporas. In 2018 she has been invited to participate in UNESCO roundtable discussions in Suriname on world memory and heritage regarding Indian indenture.

Dr Gounder’s research has also been recognized through fellowships and positions. She has been a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow in Oceanic Linguistics at The University of Waikato, a Research Associate at The University of Waikato, and The Centre for Advancement of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Visiting Scholar at Avondale College, Sydney. She has also been invited to present at universities and colleges in New Zealand and Australia. Her recent research into Pacific health has also been recognized through her appointment as a strategic advisor to an Australasian Pacific-focused health board.

AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST AND EXPERTISE

Pacific people's health conceptualizations, Indian indenture, Narrative analysis, Discourse and society, Health Communication, Media and collective memory, Anniversary journalism, News media, Pacific media, Contemporary and traditional media, Frame analysis, Academic Writing, Qualitative and quantitative research writing, Transcription and translation

QUALIFICATIONS

PhD in Linguistics (2011, Massey University), Master of Arts (2003, University of Auckland), Bachelor of Arts (2000, University of the South Pacific), CELTA

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

2021 Girmit Legacy Award: Contribution to Girmit Literature, Fiji Girmit Foundation New Zealand.

2016 Visiting scholar, Avondale College of Higher Education, Sydney: Centre for Advancement of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

2013-2014 Postdoctoral Fellow in Linguistics, The University of Waikato. Funded by the University of Waikato’s Strategic Investment Funds

2000 Valedictorian, The University of the South Pacific. Highest GPA amongst all undergraduates

2000 Gold medallist in Linguistics, The University of the South Pacific. Highest GPA amongst all Linguistics undergraduates

Media coverage

Fiji Sun. 21 May 2021. Fijian spirit still strong as ever for Girmit descendants despite painful political events. EXPLAINER NEW

Selected Publications and Presentations

Books

Gounder, F., Brereton, B., Egger, J., & Neus, H. (Eds.). (2021). Collective Memory, Identity, and the Legacies of Slavery and Indentured Labour.

Gounder, F., Hiralal, K., Pande, A., & Hassankhan, M. (Eds.). (2020). Women, Gender, and the Legacy of Slavery and Indenture. Manohar; Routledge Press.

Menke, H., Buckingham, J., Gounder, F., Kumar, A., & Hassankhan, M. (Eds.). (2020). Social Aspects of Health, Medicine, and Disease in the Colonial and Post-colonial Era. Manohar; Routledge Press.

Gounder, F. (Ed.). (2015). Narrative practice and identity construction in the Pacific Islands. The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Gounder, F. (2011). Indentured identities: Resistance and accommodation in plantation-era Fiji. The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Book chapters

Gounder, F. (2020). Gender and resistance in Indian indenture life stories: Oral history and the national stage of memorialization. In F. Gounder., K. Hiralal., A. Pande., & M. Hassankhan (Eds.). Women, Gender, and the Legacy of Slavery and Indenture. Manohar; Routledge Press.

Gounder, F. (2020). Motherhood performativity in sub-altern life stories. In A. Pande (Ed.). Women in the Indian diaspora: Indentured and Post-indentured Experiences. Springer.

Gounder, F. (2015). Introduction. In F. Gounder (Ed.), Narrative practice and identity construction in the Pacific Islands (pp. 1-11). The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Gounder, F. (2014). Who is ‘we’? Anniversary narrative as collective memory. In E. Stracke (Ed.), Intersections: Applied Linguistics as a Meeting Place (pp. 87-109). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Edited journal

Gounder, F. (Ed.). (2014). Narrative: State of the art in Aotearoa. Special Edition of Te Reo: Official Journal of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand, volume 57.

Journal articles

Gounder, F., & Hassankhan, M. S. (2020). Cause and Response to Inequalities in the Indentured Labour Diaspora A Framework for Comparative Analysis. Working Paper.

Gounder, F. (2020). The contributions of oral history to indentured historiography. UNESCO’s Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund Magazine.

Gounder, F. (2020). Suva residents’ views on Cancer, Diabetes, and HIV in The Fiji Times. Journal of Pacific Studies, 40(1), 81-101. DOI: 10.33318/jpacs.2020.40(1)-4

Cullum, S., Simpson, R., & Gounder, F. (2020). How is dementia portrayed in New Zealand newsprint media? Causes, effects and moral evaluation. The New Zealand Medical Journal, 133(1522), 18-29.

Gounder, F., & Ameer, R. (2018). Defining diabetes and assigning responsibility: How print media frame diabetes in New Zealand. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 46(1), 93-112. DOI: 10.1080/00909882.2017.1409907

Gounder, F. (2017). [Book review]. Chaim Noy. (2015). Thank you for dying for our country: Commemorative texts and performances in Jerusalem. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Language in Society, 46(4), 602-603.

Gounder, F. (2017). Restorying Girmit: Commemorative journalism, collective consciousness and the imagined community. Fijian Studies: A Journal of Contemporary Fiji, 15(1), 47-62.

Gounder, F., Gounder, R., Cornelius, M. (2016). “Sex like sweet potatoes”: Framing HIV in the South Pacific media. Journal of Public Health in Developing Countries, 2(1), 109-120.

Gounder, F. (2014). Narrative perspectives and perspectives on narrative. Te Reo: Official Journal of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand, 57, 93-108.

Dean, F. (2000). Precourse needs analysis for a female Rotuman learning a domestic register of Fiji Hindi. Directions: Journal of Educational Studies, 22 (2), 35-55. [Published under maiden name]

Theses

Gounder, F. (2011). Restorying indenture the first Fiji Hindi speakers narrate Girmit: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (Doctoral dissertation, Massey University).

2003 Dean, F. (2003). Pan-ethnicity in New Zealand: An investigation into the use of ethnic linguistic markers in resisting Pan-Indian categorization by Indo-Fijian and South Asian tertiary students in Auckland (Masters dissertation, University of Auckland).

Conference presentations

2020 Gounder, F. and M. Hassankhan. “Cause and response to inequity in the indentured labour diaspora: A proposed framework for analysis”. World Indian Diaspora Conference. August 22-23. University of the West Indies: Trinidad.

2019 Gounder, F. and M. Hassankhan. “Cause and response to inequity in the indentured labour diaspora: A proposed framework for analysis”. International Conference on Forced Labour and Migration. July 15th-17th. University of Fiji: Lautoka, Fiji.

2019 Gounder, F. “Mothers-before-labourers: Resistance strategies on indentured plantations”. International Conference on Forced Labour and Migration. July 15th-17th. University of Fiji: Lautoka, Fiji.

2019 Hassankhan, M. and F. Gounder. “Indentured Labour Route Project: Strategic Plan for Fiji”. International Conference on Forced Labour and Migration. July 15th-17th. University of Fiji: Lautoka, Fiji.

2018 Gounder, F. “Gender performativity in Girmit life narratives”. Conference on Slavery, Indentured Labour, Migration, Diaspora and Identity Formation. June 19th– 23th, Paramaribo, Suriname.

2017 Gounder, F. “‘Oh, sugar’: Media framing of diabetes”, 6^th Discourse and Society Conference, 6-9 December. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland.

2015 Gounder, F. “Implications of health media framing in the South Pacific“, 8th Pasifika Massey Conference, 24-25 Nov. Massey University, Palmerston North.

2014 Gounder, F. “Framing health news stories in the South Pacific”, Linguistic Society of New Zealand Language and Society Conference, 23-25 Nov. University of Waikato, Hamilton.

2011 Gounder, F. “I was slapped but never beaten: A Fiji Indian mother’s construction of agency through her life narrative”, Linguistics Society of New Zealand 19^th Biennial Conference, 17-18 Nov. Victoria University, Wellington.

2009 Gounder, F. “Performing gender: Putting women back into Indian indenture”, Linguistics Society of New Zealand 18^th Biennial Conference, 30 Nov-1 Dec. Massey University, Palmerston North.

2008 Gounder, F. “Kissing cousins: The habitual narrative & the narrative-proper”, Linguistic Society of New Zealand Language and Society Conference, 17-18 Nov. Otago University, Dunedin.

2008 Gounder, F. “The silenced interviewer in the representation of identities”, CLESOL, 2-5 Oct. King’s College, Auckland.

2007 Gounder, F. “Narratives of Indian indenture”, ALANZ, 3^rd Nov. International Pacific College, Palmerston North.

Seminar presentations

2019. Gounder, F. “Social determinants of health and inequality during indenture”, Spring Symposium, 28th September. IPU New Zealand Tertiary Institute, Palmerston North.

2018. Gounder, F. “Gender performativity in subaltern life stories”, IPU NZ Tertiary Institute Research Day, August. IPU New Zealand Tertiary Institute, Palmerston North.

2015 Gounder, F. “HIV in the South Pacific Media”, International Pacific College Research Day, 29 July. International Pacific College, Palmerston North.

2015 Gounder, F. “‘Sex like sweet potatoes’: HIV in Fiji English media“, Massey University School of Communication Seminar Series, 27 May. Massey University, Palmerston North. Invited presentation.

2014 Gounder, F. “Talanoa: The need for culture-specific methodologies“, University of Waikato Narrative Symposium, 17 April. University of Waikato, Hamilton.

2013 Gounder, F. “The Bad Mothers of Indian indenture: Countering stigma in collective memory”, Waikato Linguistics in Action, 14 Nov. University of Waikato, Hamilton.

2011 Gounder, F. “Life narratives in Fiji Hindi”, International Pacific College Research Day, 26 July. International Pacific College, Palmerston North.

Invited presentations

2021. Gounder, F. Girmit Keynote speaker. Fiji Girmit Foundation New Zealand 142nd Girmit Anniversary. 7th May. Auckland.

2021. Gounder, F. The women in the indentured abolition discourse of C. F. Andrews. Presentation for International web-seminar on International Women’s Day. 8-9 March 2021. Deccan Archaeological and Culture Research Institute, Hyderabad and Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Niyas, Meerut. (Video link: The women in the indentured abolition discourse of CF Andrews )

2021. Gounder, F. Indian women as cultural gatekeepers in the diaspora. ARSP International Webinar on Women’s Day, 8th March. (Video link: Farzana Gounder_ Indian women as cultural gatekeepers in the diaspora)

2021. Gounder, F. Research projects on indenture from the South Pacific. Scientific Committee for the Indentured Labour Route Project. Online meeting held at the University of Mauritius, Le Réduit. 26 January. Mauritius.

2019. Gounder, F. “Cause and response to inequity in the indentured labour diaspora: A proposed framework for analysis”. Law School Seminar Series. 26th July. Law School, University of Fiji: Suva, Fiji.

2016. Gounder, F. “Media framing of complementary and alternative medicine access in the South Pacific. Avondale College of Higher Education: Centre for Advancement of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6th October.  Avondale College of Higher Education, Sydney, Australia.

2016. Gounder, F. “(W)rite of healing: Social determinants of complementary and alternative medicine access in developing & developed worlds“, Massey University School of Development Studies, 27 April. Massey University, Palmerston North. Invited presentation.

2015. Gounder, F. “‘Sex like sweet potatoes’: HIV in Fiji English media”, Massey University School of Communication Seminar Series, 27th May. Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.  

2013. Gounder, F. Waikato University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Postgraduate Workshop. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Conference participation

2019 The UCLA Center for Middle East Development in Cooperation with The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar 14th Annual Conference Enriching the Middle East’s Economic Future. November 13-14. Doha, Qatar.

2019 NZIIA National Conference: Pacific Futures: Connections, Identity and Security. 18 October. Auckland, New Zealand.

2018 UNESCO Roundtable Discussions. Memory of the world: Indenture Labour Routes. Archives and the legacy of slavery and indentured labour. Their contribution to the indentured labour route project, with special reference to the international indentured labour migration database.  June 24th, Paramaribo, Suriname. June 19th– 23th, Paramaribo, Suriname.

Facilitated workshops and roundtables

2020 Gounder, (Chair). Roundtable on Cause and response to inequity in the indentured labour diaspora. August 23. World Indian Diaspora Conference, University of the West Indies, Trinidad.

2020 Gounder, (Chair). Roundtable on the development of a universal orthography for Girmit Hindustani varieties. August 23. World Indian Diaspora Conference, University of the West Indies, Trinidad.

2019 Gounder, F. (Chair). Roundtable on the development of a universal orthography for Girmit Hindustani varieties. International Conference on Forced Labour and Migration. July 15th-17th. University of Fiji: Lautoka, Fiji.

2018 How to get published. Professional Development Workshop. 7th October. IPU New Zealand, Palmerston North.

2017 Mixed methods software workshop. IPU New Zealand Research Half Day, 9^th August. IPU New Zealand, Palmerston North.

2016 Mixed methods software workshop. 1^st December. IPU New Zealand, Palmerston North.

2016 Mixed methods software workshop for International Pacific University of Japan. 8^th December. IPU New Zealand, Palmerston North.

2016 MAXQDA proposal and demonstration for IPU Board. 24^th September, IPU New Zealand, Palmerston North.

Participated workshops

2020 AQA’s Academic Integrity Workshop, 4th February. Auckland University, Auckland.

2018 Workshop on Treaty of Waitangi, 9th August. IPU New Zealand, Palmerston North.

2018 Workshop on culturally responsive teaching practices for Maori students, 18th October. IPU New Zealand, Palmerston North.