About the speaker: Niro Kandasamy is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies. Her thesis explores the childhood memories of Sri Lankan Tamils resettled in Australia during the late twentieth century. She draws on oral history interviews with Tamil people resettled in Sydney and Melbourne to show how memories of war and resettlement reveal expressions of resistance and agency that can challenge official narratives of the past and help to better understand everyday experiences of forced migration.

Niro holds an undergraduate degree in Social Research and Policy (Honours Class 1) from the University of New South Wales. She is also a research assistant in the field of disability studies, focusing on Tamil women’s disability experiences in rural Sri Lanka. Her research interests include youth studies, oral history and gender, welfare service delivery, post-war and reconciliation.