Warda Arif is a doctoral student at the Department of Education. Her research aims to operationalise Critical Realist conceptions and methods to study Cultures of Higher Education in select Indian universities.
She completed her Master’s in Education and International Development from University College London’s – Institute of Education (UCL-IOE) as a Commonwealth Scholar and holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry form Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
Over her brief career, Warda has worked in the social development and impact sector in South Africa, India and Saudi Arabia, in teaching, research and advisory roles.
Supervisors
Dr Steven Puttick and Dr Aliya Khalid
Dr Gardiana Bandeira-Melo is a Post-Doctoral Researcher, on the project ‘International Student Mobility and World Development’, leading research on countries at the South of the Sahara.
She underwent training in Critical Development Studies and Political Economy of the Global South at Cardiff Metropolitan University (PhD) and the Sorbonne University (BSc and MSc).
Her career straddles, the worlds of academia and government, over three continents (Africa, Europe/Asia and the Americas) in the areas of development, politics and ethics.
Dr Bandeira-Melo’s research delves into the nexus of indigenous African knowledge, decoloniality and climate justice. It employs mixed research designs and interdisciplinary frameworks, namely Critical Race Theory and Theories of Change, where these relate to responses to colonial legacies and socioeconomic and environmental transformations.
She seeks to understand, through the lived experiences and perspectives of people from Africa and the Diaspora, how traditional African science and culture are employed to overcome mechanisms of oppression, inequalities and climate disruption. Her work aims to offer counter-narratives to representations of African backwardness and helplessness, amplifying the voices of African and Afro-descendants and highlighting their contributions to the global community.
Having a background in political science, international relations and history, Alina obtained an MA in Developmental Psychology. Alina is a DPhil student and intends to research prosocial behaviour.
Supervisors
Liam Gearon and Maia Chankseliani
Mercedes Crisóstomo is an interdisciplinary social science researcher with expertise in anthropological and historical methods, along with extensive teaching experience.
She completed her PhD at the Institute of the Americas at University College London. Before joining Oxford, she taught at King’s College London and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and worked as a researcher and consultant for Peruvian and international academic and research institutions. Mercedes’ primary research is dedicated to understanding and explaining the challenges women face within societies shaped by racism, colonialism, exclusion, violence, and conflict. Specifically, her research focuses on women who have been erased from historical narratives, sources, and archives. By employing interdisciplinary approaches and methods, she has contributed to making women visible as historical and political actors and to rewriting established historical and political narratives.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘Las Mujeres En Los Movimientos Campesinos. La Experiencia de La Confederación Campesina Del Perú: 1947-1987’. Interdisciplinary Studies of Latin America 33, no. 1 (2022): 138–62. https://eial.tau.ac.il/index.php/eial/article/view/1757.
Crisóstomo Meza, Mercedes. ‘El Estado es el Otro: La Atención de La Violencia Contra las Mujeres en las Zonas Rurales del Perú’. Politai 12, no. 22 (2021): 1–29.
https://doi.org/10.18800/politai.202101.003
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘Memories between Eras: ANFASEP’s Leaders before and after Peru’s Internal Armed Conflict’. Latin American Perspectives 46, no. 5 (2019): 128–42.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19856901
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘ANFASEP En Perspectiva Comparada. Género y Justicia Transicional En América Latina’. Revista Memoria, no. 24 (2017): 1–20.
https://idehpucp.pucp.edu.pe/revista_memoria/dossier-6
Crisóstomo, Mercedes, and Rosa Mújica. ‘Women’s Rights in Peru: Insights from Two Organizations’. Global Networks (Oxford) 9, no. 4 (2009): 485–506. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2009.00265.x
Crisóstomo, Mercedes, and Rosa Alayza. ‘Doing Vernacularization: The Encounter between Global and Local Ideas about Women’s Rights in Peru’. In Feminist Strategies in International Governance, edited by Calgar Gülay, Elisabeth Prugl, Susanne Zwingel, Sally Engle Marry, and Peggy Levitt, 127–42. London: Routledge Ltd, 2013.
Monographs
Crisóstomo, Mercedes, ed. Género y Conflicto Armado Interno En El Perú. Testimonio y Memoria. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2018.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes, ed. Urin Parcco y Hanan Parcco. Memorias sobre el Tiempo de la Hacienda y la Reforma Agraria: Testimonios de sus Protagonistas. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2017.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. Legítimos y Radicales. Una Aproximación al Estudio del Frente de Defensa del Pueblo de Ayacucho. Lima: Escuela de Gobierno y Políticas Públicas, 2012.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes, and Rosa Alayza. Sociedad Civil y Proceso de Reconciliación. Diferentes Miradas. Lima: Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones, 2007.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. Memorias de Mujer en el Conflicto Armado Interno. Lima: Consejería en Proyectos, 2004.
Peer-reviewed book chapters
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘Mujeres Campesinas Indígenas en la República’. In Nación y República en el Pensamiento Social Peruano, Hitos y Voces en el Bicentenario, edited by Narda Henríquez and Gisela Canepa, 361–98. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2022.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘Experiencias de Independencia y Alteridad en la Reforma Agraria de Juan Velasco Alvarado’. In Nuevas Miradas sobre la Reforma Agraria Peruana, edited by Alejandro Diez and María Luisa Burneo. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2022.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘La Micropolítica de la Reforma Agraria en Huancavelica: Narrativas y Memorias Campesinas sobre el Patrón, el Estado y Velasco’. In Perú El Problema Agrario En Debate. SEPIA XVIII, 145–82. SEPIA, 2020.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘Cuestionando Estereotipos: Las Presidentas de ANFASEP y sus Espacios Plurales de Acción Antes Del Conflicto Armado en el Perú’. In Género y Conflicto Armado Interno en el Perú. Testimonio y Memoria, edited by Mercedes Crisostomo, 109–52. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2018.
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘Las Mujeres y la Violencia Sexual en el Conflicto Armado Interno’. In Violencia Contra la Mujer durante el Conflicto Armado Interno. Warmikuna Yuyariniku. Lecciones Para No Repetir La Historia, edited by Ricardo Portocarrero, 11–29. Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos, 2005.
Reviews
Review of the Rural State: Making Comunidades, Campesinos, and Conflict in Peru’s Central Sierra by Javier Puente. Hispanic American Historical Review, 2023, 173–76.
https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-10942961
Review of Reflexiones Sobre el Perú: Más allá del Bicentenario by Mariela Noles Cotito (Ed.). Journal of Latin American Studies 55, No. 2, 2023, 356–57.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X23000500
Review of Beatriz Allende: A Revolutionary Life in Cold War Latin America by Tanya Harmer. Trama Critica, 2022.
https://tramacritica.pe/author/mercedes_crisostomo/
Working papers
Crisóstomo, Mercedes, and Patricia Ames. ‘Formas de Prevención y Atención de la Violencia Contra los Niños y Niñas en Zonas Rurales: Revisión Comparada y Estudio de Caso en Huancavelica, Perú’. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2019. http://repositorio.iep.org.pe/handle/IEP/1153
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. ‘Violencia Contra las Mujeres Rurales. Una Etnografía del Estado Peruano’. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2016. https://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/69766
Crisóstomo, Mercedes. Mujeres y fuerzas armadas en un contexto de violencia política: los casos de Manta y Vilca en Huancavelica. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2002. http://repositorio.iep.org.pe/handle/IEP/15
Crisóstomo, Mercedes, Patricia Ames, Ursula Aldana, and Sarita Oré. ‘La Violencia Infantil En El Entorno Doméstico: Puntos de Partida Para Una Propuesta de Intervención En Huancavelica’. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2015.
http://repositorio.iep.org.pe/handle/IEP/964
Schooled in the discipline of Public Administration at the University of Dhaka and with an experience of over five years of lecturing graduate and post-graduate students at two reputed public universities in Bangladesh, I am interested in research works related to education, gender, public policy, social studies and have multiple publications.
Apart from my current lecturing position, I worked as a news editor and contributor for the Dhaka Insider, an online news portal, in 2015. I also served as the Head of the Department (Department of Public Administration) and Assistant Proctor at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University (BSMRSTU) and as an elected member of the Teachers’ Association there. During my post-graduation (MA. Public Policy) at the University of Nottingham, a qualitative research focus helped me characterize patterns of gender gap in primary education access.
Selected Publications
- Dutta, P. (2020). Democratic Decentralization and Participatory Development: Focus on Bangladesh. Journal of Contemporary Governance and Public Policy, 1(2), 82-91. Permalink/DOI: https://doi.org/10.46507/jcgpp.v1i2
- Dutta, P., 2021. • Towards Sound Integrity Management in Bangladesh: Challenges and Issues in Public Administration and Law Enforcement. In: S. N. Khanom, ed. Governance, In the 21st Century in the Sounth Asia: Challenges and Ways Forward. Dhaka: Hakkani Publishers, pp. 541-560.
Gia-Yen is a doctoral student in the Department of Education. Her doctoral research focuses on support for early career teachers and the development of policy frameworks for the system-wide implementation of mentoring and induction as a mechanism for teacher retention and teaching quality.
Gia-Yen holds an MSc in Education (Comparative and International Education), a Masters in Teaching (Secondary)(Research), a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Science (Distinction) with a major in Neuroscience. Gia-Yen is a secondary Mathematics and Science teacher and has previously worked across education policy and not-for-profit sectors with an overarching aim of addressing educational inequity in Australia.
Khansa is a disability rights activist, researcher, and independent consultant with a professional background in Culture, Politics, International Development, and Inclusive Education. Over the past few years, Khansa has collaborated with both international and local organizations to develop strategies for fostering inclusion and addressing various Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) issues.
Supervisors
Aliya Khalid and Ann Childs
Zhuohan (Johanne) has a BA in English from Dalian Maritime University, China, and has won China National Scholarship. She then graduated with a Distinction in MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from University of Oxford. Before her DPhil, Zhuohan worked for the organizing committee for the Harvard Summit for Young Leaders in China, an initiative that brought liberal arts education from Harvard to China’s top-performing high school students. She also helped evaluate the UNICEF China Child-Friendly School Programme as an RA, focusing on the socio-emotional learning among the Dong ethnic minority groups in Guangxi, China. She also teaches IELTS, TOEFL, and English phonics.
Her MSc research centres on linguistic relativity, specifically the effect of French grammatical gender system on both French speakers’ and learners’ perception of objects. Her DPhil research focuses on English pronunciation teaching and learning among young Chinese kids, particularly emphasising the influence of their mother tongue, Mandarin.
Supervisors
Robert Woore and Faidra Faitaki
Arathi is a sociologist of education. Her current research examines reparative justice in educational systems and practices. How might collective recognition of past and present injustices help us imagine ‘reparative futures’ of education? What does reparation in education look like?
This line of inquiry has emerged from Arathi’s scholarship over a number of years which has illuminated the structural injustices of schooling systems. She has examined the politics of educational inequality in the Indian, Australian and UK contexts as well as the global governance of childhood and the family.
Underlying much of this research has been an abiding interest in the racial politics of education. Her scholarship has explored the active erasures of racism and coloniality in the field of education and the ways in which racial capitalism sustains educational injustices. Major collaborative works in these areas include: Learning Whiteness: Education and the Settler Colonial State (Pluto, 2022); Black Lives Matter and Global Struggles for Racial Justice in Education (Chicago, 2023); and Learning With the Past: Racism, Education and Reparative Futures (Unesco, 2020).
Prior to joining the University of Oxford, Arathi taught at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Sydney. She is a co-convenor of the Race, Empire and Education Research Collective.
Funded Research Projects
Reparative Futures of Education (REPAIR-ED)
This is a five-year research programme (2023-2028) selected by the European Research Council and funded by UKRI Frontier Research. It involves collaborating with primary school-communities in the city of Bristol to conduct in-depth ethnographic and oral-history research on the features and mechanisms of structural inequities in education. The project uses its empirical findings to facilitate dialogues with schools, their communities, policy-actors and the broader public to explore how reparative justice in education might be conceptualised and enacted. It is motivated by the overarching question: what does reparation in education look like?
ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures
We live in a sociodigital world (the social and digital are interwoven). No single ‘future’ awaits us – there are many possible ‘sociodigital futures’. The Centre for Sociodigital Futures (CenSoF) brings together world-leading interdisciplinary expertise to explore sociodigital futures in-the-making to support fair and sustainable ways of life. Arathi is a member of the team whose work focuses on the sociodigital futures of education.
Global Advocacy for Anti-Racist Education
Global education policy frameworks have been silent on racism and coloniality, despite the overwhelming role of racial injustice in the maintenance of educational inequities across the world. This 8-year project, in partnership with Action Aid International, the University of Bristol, and a global consortium of anti-racist activists and educators, builds research evidence and a global movement for anti-racist education policy, systems and practices.