THE STORY OF ME

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A test I took in college indicated that I would become either a judge or a lawyer. The only accurate thing about this prediction is my long struggle to navigate and apply rules and advocate for marginalised groups. In addition to being a social scientist and a justice driven person, I also have a powerful creative personality. 

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I started as an artist with an undergraduate degree in textile design. I loved creating new patterns and shapes and thinking outside the box to imagine the human experience. Eventually, I took the pragmatic route of a social scientist and a radio war reporter. At school, I discovered social science was the closest thing to “justice”, so after graduating from the University of Chicago with a primary concentration in Human Rights, I spent over a decade at international organisations providing expert advice on human rights and development, running a program that specialised in victims’ rights.  

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The inquisitive judge half intervened again, asking for an answer to the big question: what happens to war victims after the conflict ends? Where’s the evidence that post-conflict peace-building strategies worked? So, I applied and got into a phenomenal PhD Political and Social Sciences program at the University of Melbourne, working with two legal scholars and an economist who guided my inquisitive process. I came to study legal remedies and ended up with more important questions as I understood how people think of justice and how they make judgments and choices vary. I fell in love with social science and the scientific method using a qualitative approach that enabled me to hear, record and understand human experiences.

The general scientific fascination with numbers I observed translated into a passion for connecting via words that more fully describe authentic human experiences. To be privileged to use 'sociological imagination' to hear these spoken words, one needs access, trust, good listening skills, cultural adaptability and a strong sense of ethics. There needs to be a relationship.

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My experience in Bosnia during the war has continued to be the driving force of thinking about history, post-conflict reconstruction and victims' place in transitional justice discourse more globally. Over the next few years, I tried to find how best to use this new knowledge of connecting, listening, and systematically analysing for good by asking questions that keep me awake today: what place marginalised people occupy in international development and peacebuilding policies?  How can international law, globalisation, and transitional justice scholars and practitioners ensure that victim-centred perspectives are included in their policy recommendations? How do the narratives around historical injustice: colonial harms, authoritarian regimes, police brutality, conflicts and use of force frame the conversation about the underprivileged? Do victims have a voice in the existing scholarship, and can they be heard and seen? Is it possible to respond to past harm by creating a policy that includes victims' perspectives and ensures stability through recognition and intentional healing?

As an academic, social sciences scholar and researcher, I guide students in understanding 'sociological imagination' as a tool to observe, contextualize and reframe the texts that focus on the historical roots of structural and institutional inequality. These uncomfortable conversations are to be had to bring about a change.  I am driven to advocate for policies that will improve the position of vulnerable groups, particularly ethnic minorities, Black, Latinx, Muslims, LGBTQ, women, children, disabled and migrants as people who experience limited access to public space and all others who currently lack equal representation and visibility.

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