Episode 30: Exploring Critical Race Feminism with Dr Nilmini Fernando

Today on The Gender Card, we explore the emerging research around critical race feminism and how that intersects with feminist practice in arts and academia. Griffith University’s Dr Nilmini Fernando’s innovative research was recently featured in the Journal of Intercultural Studies - particularly her work in a participatory theatre-based project in Ireland creating a platform for women seeking protection - to self-represent their stories of gendered race in their encounters with the asylum system. The live performance space fostered voicing of stories that connect past to present, disrupt power relations and speak back to gendered racial constructions of "African women" to remake meanings and assumptions on their own terms. As a Sri Lankan Australian interdisciplinary feminist researcher, educator and practitioner, Dr Fernando uses her lived experience and expertise in critical race theory to expand on Sara Ahmed’s seminal work, to distinguish specific forms of Black female agency and resistance in Australia. She’s also co-editing a book based on Senior Research Fellow Dr Debbie Bargallie’s groundbreaking work on Racial Literacy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.