History Unfolds: FNU’s First Local PhD Student Graduates
Dr Jasmine Hussain has stamped her mark in the history books, breaking barriers and being a beacon of inspiration for all Fijians - becoming the first local PhD student to graduate from the Fiji National University.
Dr Hussain is currently serving as a Lecturer in Social Education at the FNU’s College of Humanities and Education (CHE), based at the Natabua Campus in Lautoka.
At the heart of her thesis are the Indo-Fijian Muslim women, an ethnic sub-category minority. “My study investigated the evolution of the New Indo-Fijian Muslim women by exploring freedom, the fundamental concept in Simone de Beauvoir’s work,” highlighted Dr Hussain.
“Jean-Paul Sartre’s framework of political economy and Thandika Mkandawire’s notion of transformative social policy were also used to understand the changing landscape of freedoms.
“Simone de Beauvoir was a twentieth-century French and internationally renowned philosopher and among the first to address the position of women in society.
“Like Beauvoir, Sartre was also a French philosopher, and together they inaugurated what is now known as Existentialism, the philosophy of freedom and existence. Mkandawire was an African economist with a deep interest in development and the significant role of social policy in engendering change.”
About Dr Hussain
A sensitive, friendly, hard-working, caring, detailoriented, and versatile Dr Hussain traces her roots back to Valebasoga, Labasa, where her grandfather, who was an indentured immigrant, settled.
Growing up, she spent her formative years in the Hidden Paradise of Fiji, Savusavu, completing her secondary level education at All Saints Secondary School and Labasa College.
She is passionate about social science and citizenship education, including gender and women’s studies, identity, social and cultural change, freedom, educational leadership, and social policy. “I graduated as a primary school teacher and taught in Rakiraki, Ba, and briefly at Lautoka before pursuing an academic career at the Fiji National University,” said Dr Hussain. “Before joining FNU, I attained a Master of Arts degree from the University of the South Pacific under the prestigious AusAid Scholarship. “In my Masters thesis, for the first time, a study examined the challenges female primary school teachers encountered in advancing to educational leadership in Fiji.
My intellectual curiosity and commitment to understanding various aspects of women’s lived experiences and advancing studies on women in Fiji enabled me to pursue my PhD here, for which I was awarded a Fellowship.”
She describes her achievement as an insightful and an incredibly rewarding one, having her academic journey take her to as far as the Teesside University in Middlesbrough, England, and Paris (home of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre), marking her first experience in Europe under the then ‘FNU Student Exchange Programme’.
“Numerous factors motivated me, and these included improving my career prospects, a passion for research and producing new knowledge, and the aspiration to discover new things while learning, unlearning, and relearning,” she added.
Dr Hussain added that pursuing her PhD locally meant within the comfort of her home.
“When the FNU PhD Fellowship was awarded to me, I knew my fate had been sealed. I also saw the opportunity to do my PhD at FNU as equally competitive as going abroad.
“This is because CHE houses some of the most renowned intellectuals in the region who come with international branding and are grounded in their respective theories, and methodologies,” she added.
“FNU has expanded its capacity for research over the years and offers enabling opportunities, which include research funds, short attachments, and conference travel, which, in my view, offer a holistic approach to developing one’s intellectual potential and are important precursors to attaining a PhD. As a rapidly expanding university, the prospects of advancing your intellectual development at FNU are not only promising but also rewarding.”
She also noted that with her attainment, education meant importance as it raised aspirations and the potential to achieve them, but most significantly, it expanded one’s freedom by enabling opportunities for transcending a situation through economic empowerment.
Her advice to students and women intending to pursue a PhD is: “Attaining a PhD is no easy feat, especially if you’re a woman. Embrace intellectual independence and solitary work; engage critically with loads of academic reading in addition to perseverance as you wade through the numerous challenges that life throws at you. Most important of all, trust in yourself and, to borrow from my principal supervisor, stay the course!”
She acknowledged her supervisors, the FNU Dean for the Centre for Graduate Studies, Professor Nii-K Plange, the FNU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Unaisi Nabobo Baba, and Associate Professor Asinate Mausio.
“I dedicate my thesis to my parents and am eternally grateful for their love, support, and prayers,” she added.
Dr Hussain shared that the exciting moment would be cherished for a lifetime and shared with the whole FNU community, her family, friends, and the nation.