Drawing on her extensive experience as a Pacific scholar and educator, Unaisi Nabobo-Baba will offer broad reflections on education in the region. Reflecting ongoing issues around inclusive education, and considering the indigenous population in the Pacific islands, her keynote is a timely topic addressing culturally relevant education.

Speaker Biography

Unaisi Nabobo-Baba

Professor Unaisi Nabobo-Baba is the first Indigenous Fijian woman to be appointed a professor at a university. She is married to Fijian politician Dr Tupeni Baba and is currently the Acting Dean of College of Humanities and Education at Fiji National University. Growing up in Vugalei, Fiji and witnessing traditional ways of lifestyle gave her a quiet understanding of things at home. She attended Ballantine memorial secondary school in Suva, in a time where Pacific education was being questioned, and many Pacific island nations were trying to exert their independence. She has taught at secondary schools, universities, lived through the Fiji coup of 2000, and has undergone many other life-shaping experiences. The contributions she has made to the Pacific are largely focused around education and Fijian-based methodologies. Professor Nabobo-Baba’s work as a Pacific researcher reflects her stories as a woman of colour, of the third world, of post-colonial Fiji, and the daughter of two Fijian tribes. Her life is evidence of how experience influences a person’s understanding, way of life, and how Indigenous knowledge morphs into a hybrid understanding, bridging traditional and non-traditional ways of knowing.

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Unaisi Nabobo-Baba is the first Indigenous Fijian woman to be appointed a professor at a university.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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