Viti
We want to acknowledge KaiViti/Indigenous and iTaukei communities across Viti (Fiji) and pay our respects to their elders of the past, present and emerging. We recognise and respect their continuing connection to the Vanua, ocean and community.

Aotearoa
I want to acknowledge the Mana Whenua of Tamāki Makaurau, Ngāti Pāoa; Ngāi Tai; Ngāti Whātua; Te Wai-o-Hua/Ngā Oho; Ngāti Te Ata; and Te Kawerau-a-Maki, whose stolen land I live and work from. As tauiwi (non-Māori) Indo-Fijian woman I recognise that I benefit from living on this stolen land in the settler state of New Zealand. As tauiwi I also seek to honour and commit to upholding Māori sovereignty in Aotearoa through our partnership in He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

U.S.
I aim to break down all kinds of supremacy within the communities that I come from and that also means accepting how I benefit from living on stolen land in North America. I pay my respects to the Jalquin, Lisjan, Chochenyo and Karkin peoples (Ohlone communities across the East Bay, California) while knowing that all Indigenous and Black communities continue to face genocide, displacement and police brutality across the U.S.

Undoing History's Spell on Bad Women: Essay

Essay cover and title. Background with green and purple sugarcane shoots. Block of dark green text box with text that reads: Undoing History's Spell on Bad Women. Two large vectors of machete knives are placed under and over the title.

Essay — Undoing History’s Spell on Bad Women: Counter-colonial narratives of the female Girmit role in the 1920 labour strike by Esha Pillay and Quishile Charan, November 2019

The research surrounding the 1920 labour strike in Suva, Fiji is presented in this online essay as a shared labour between Esha Pillay and Quishile Charan. This collaboration is a form of building friendship, maintaining a contemporary undertaking of resistance tactics led by Girmitiya women, and descendants, and pooling the few resources at our disposal. The research and writing of this essay flips the dominant narrative, breaks down both white supremacy and Brahmanical supremacy and honours all forms of Girmit resistance.

Click Here to Download Full Essay