Hope theory as resistance: narratives of South Asian scholars in Australian academia

• Date: 06 November 2023
• Pages: 26-40
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-03-2023-0085
• Published date: 06 November 2023
• Author: Nicola Sum,Reshmi Lahiri-Roy,Nish Belford

Hope theory as resistance:

narratives of South Asian scholars

in Australian academia

Nicola Sum

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Reshmi Lahiri-Roy

Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, and

Nish Belford

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –Identity, positioning and possibilities intersect differently for South Asian women in white

academia. Within a broader migrant community that defines Australian life, these identities and positioning

imply great possibility, but pursuing such pathways within academia is a walk on the last strand of resilience.

This paper explores this tension of possibilities and constraints, using hope theory to highlight the cognitive

resistance evident in the narratives of three South Asian women in Australian academia.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors use collaborative autoethnography to share their narratives

of working in Australian universities at three different stages of careers, utilising Snyder’s model of hope

theory to interrogate their own goal-setting behaviours, pathways and agentic thinking.

Findings –The authors propose that hope as a cognitive state informs resistance and enables aspirations to

contribute within academia in meaningful ways whilst navigating the terrain of inequitable structures.

Originality/value –The authors’use of hope theory as a lens on the intersectional experiences of career

making, building and progression is a new contribution to scholarship on marginalised women in white

academe and the ways in which the pathways of resistance are identified.

Keywords South Asian scholars, Hope theory, Resistance, Migrant women, Australian higher education

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Studies of Asians in Australia have been “mostly about Asian communities rather than by or

with them”(Lo et al., 2000, p. 1), leaning into sociology and demography at the expense of

cultural production which sustain deficit notions of boat arrivals and bereft communities

(Ommundsen, 2011;Sarwal, 2012). On the brink of multiple discourses of re-imaginings

expressed in educational work today, the position of women broadly, and South Asian

women more specifically, remains a challenge to our consciousness, an ongoing negotiation of

how we come to find space for our seeming dislocation and how we recreate our cultures

(Lo et al., 2000;Sarwal, 2012). Through this collaborative autoethnography we share our

consciousness of academic progression and examine how we have enacted hope as a response

EDI

44,1

26

Since submission of this article the following author has updated their affiliation: Reshmi Lahiri-Roy is

at The Institute of Education, Arts and Community, Federation University, Victoria, Australia.

Erratum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article, Sum, N., Lahiri-Roy, R. and

Belford, N. (2023), “Hope theory as resistance: narratives of South Asian scholars in Australian

academia”,Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.

1108/EDI-03-2023-0085, failed to remove anonymised references at proof stage. References throughout

to “author/s”have been amended to Lahiri-Roy et al., 2021, Lahiri-Roy and Martinussen, 2023, Rosunee-

Belford, 2013 or Belford, 2020.

This error was introduced in the editorial process and has now been corrected in the online version.

The publisher sincerely apologises for this error and for any inconvenience caused.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 23 March 2023

Revised 31 August 2023

Accepted 9 October 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 44 No. 1, 2025

pp. 26-40

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-03-2023-0085