Read on Twitter
Yaama i'm @amythunig a Gamilaroi/Kamilaroi/Gomeroi yinarr. I was born on beautiful Awabakal Country & this is where I am now raising up my own children. I am going to do a thread here on who I am, & throughout this week as host I will be tweeting about working as an academic :)
I am an early career academic at @Macquarie_Uni in the School of Education. I lecture, which means I teach/develop course content, and most of my students are people who will soon be school teachers! I am also a researcher on the home stretch of my PhD. A PhD is a large research
project that you undertake 'individually' but actually you have supervisors who guide & support your journey. It was described to me as like training wheels when learning to ride your bike! At the end of PhD you are considered the expert in your specific field & get called Dr!
My PhD is 'Sovereign women: why academia?' It's been my focus for the past 3 yrs, I travelled the continent speaking with deadly women who are all academics at higher education institutions, asking WHY as amazing, sovereign, highly qualified people they choose to be academics.
Growing up I loved to read & always day dreamed of 'one day' being an author. Late last year I signed my first book deal with @UQPbooks for my book 'Tell Me Again' which is a series of short stories from my own childhood & adolescence. Out 2022. https://www.uqp.com.au/blog/uqp-acquires-indigenous-academic-and-writer-amy-thunigs-debut
I'm passionate about making the invisible/unknown of the academy visible & known! These spaces were not made for mob & continue to be violent in many ways for mob, but I believe in higher education as one (of many) tools we can utilise to fight for & support our communities.
This is why I don't leave my work to only be published within academic journals, instead seeking to write/speak across media sites to ensure the 'academic' work isn't just accessible, but also digestable!
My first PhD paper was also published here
https://indigenousx.com.au/indigenous-academic-women-treated-as-black-performer-in-higher-education/
My first PhD paper was also published here
https://indigenousx.com.au/indigenous-academic-women-treated-as-black-performer-in-higher-education/
As well as being an academic & PhD candidate, I'm a Mum! I never know how to answer the Q 'how many children do you have?' I'm step-mum to an awesome dort who's almost 13, I have a brilliant nb kiddo who is 10, a fierce son aged 6 & a nephew who cultural ways is also my son
As well as media work, in 2019 I was invited to give a TEDx talk. I was initially going to talk about education but decided to talk about the foundational problems with this colony, and the important role of disruption!
You can watch my talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_thunig_disruption_is_not_a_dirty_word?fbclid=IwAR3E0N7ytSX-6iU
You can watch my talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_thunig_disruption_is_not_a_dirty_word?fbclid=IwAR3E0N7ytSX-6iU
Lastly in my personal intro, I have 1 cat, 7 chooks, & I live semi-regionally. I split my time between my lil home near Newcastle (Awabakal land) & my Grandfather's home in Western Sydney (Cabrogal lands, Darug Nation), as I have community & cultural obligations in both areas.
For the next week I will be here tweeting all things #Academia and sharing a few of the spaces & places I share time in, so if you have wondered what academics 'actually do', would like to hear about scholarships & open days, this next week of hosting may be of interest to you :)
