Asha Chand

• Biography
• Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
• Grants / Current Projects
• Awards and Recognition
• Publications
• Other Activities
• Contact Details

Biography

Asha is an academic and journalist with a combined industry experience of more than 29 years. She migrated to Australia in 1998 and joined the UWS journalism program in 1999. Asha worked as a journalist for the Fiji Sun which was shut down at gunpoint at the 1987 coup in Fiji. She joined the News Ltd owned Fiji Times in 1989 where she worked in various positions; writing,editing and managing news and staff. She was chief of staff on the national daily when she migrated from Fiji.

Research

Asha’s research focuses on the dynamics of the information age and globalisation, social networking and the impacts of these significant world forces on marginalised migrant communities like the Fijian Indians. Her PhD topic as well as her academic research and publications draw heavily on her journalistic inquiries which have been combined with academia. Her research interests are migration, marriage, media and modernisation. These ‘fields’ reflect her ongoing fascination and personal journey with the way displaced migrant communities evolve in multicultural global cities.

Teaching

Asha’s primary strategy as a teacher is to impart life skills while engaging her students with the world they live in. She creates situations in which her students have the opportunity to ask questions, question the processes and issues, explore possibilities, acquire knowledge and gain wisdom. She coordinates and teaches: Introduction to Journalism, Communication Law and Ethics, Journalism Feature Writing, Magazine Journalism, News Teams and Newsroom Cultures, Journalism Internship.

She has supervised honours students with the following research topics:

• An Obsession with Home: the Greek Cypriots and conscription
  
• On the Front Line of Fire: the media and bushfires in New South Wales
  
• Voiding of Press Scrutiny and Accountability: Justice and Development Party in Turkey
• The Decline of ‘World’ News Coverage in the Australian Press: fact or fiction
• Contemporary Journalism: the amateurisation of the media
• Has ‘Celebrity Journalism’ Taken Over Hard News?
• Is the Media Influencing Australia’s Purse Strings: an evaluation of foreign aid in times of disaster
• A Weighty Issue: media discourse on childhood obesity
  
• Australia’s Multi Ethnic Melange: an examination of the multicultural debate and policy in the media under the Howard government
• Is the Pen Really Mightier than the Sword? The dangers, injustices and frustrations of local reporting in the Philippines.
  
• How and Why Has Citizen Journalism Impacted the Australian Media Landscape from 2005 to 2010?
  
• How Has Testing such as NAPLAN Influenced Creative Subjects Namely Drama within the Higher School Certificate?
  

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Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

Migration, marriage, media and modernisation.

Teaching: Introduction to Journalism; Journalism Feature Writing; Magazine Journalism; Communication Law and Ethics; News Teams and Newsroom Cultures; Journalism Internship; Honours supervision.

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Grants / Current Projects

NSW Ministry of Arts Grant for a three month exhibition titled:
Chutney Generations at the Liverpool Museum in 2006/2007

NSW Community Relations Commission grant for community project titled:
Fiji Indians Building a Home away from Home: 2001

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Awards and Recognition

Carrick Australian Award for University Teaching, for outstanding contribution to student learning: 2006, with colleague Barbara Alysen.

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Publications

2009: Political Activism: The new mantra for Fiji Indians in global Sydney: The Global Studies Journal, Vol 2, no 2, pp117-130

2008: June: A puncture in Fiji Indians’ journey (book review on Stop Over by Bruce Connew: NZ journalist, in The Journal of Media Geography: www.aetherjournal.org

2007: The Land Down Under Vows Bollywood Style: For Richer or Richer; International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, Volume 7: www.Diversity-Journal.com

2007: The Fiji Indian Chutney Generation: the Cultural spread between Fiji and Australia; International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics Volume 3, No 2

2007: Chutney Generations, a colourful 48-page catalogue, produced by the Liverpool Museum/Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, using Asha’s PhD research.

2007: Indian, Fijian Foods add Spice to Sydney’s Appetite: Advertising Express, book chapter

2006: The Dynamics of Diversity in Sydney’s Indians: International Journal of Diversity.

2004: Ethnic Media and Fiji Indians in Sydney, Australian Journalism Review, Vol 26 (1)

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Other Activities

Community Engagement:
Liverpool Migration History project: 2009

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