This article explores the emotional negotiations experienced by Indonesian Muslim women pursuing doctoral programs (PhD) as they transition from Indonesia to Australia. It highlights how these scholars navigate grief, homesickness, and identity tensions throughout their transnational educational journeys within Australian universities. Grounded in feminist sociology, the study employs Institutional Ethnography (IE) as both a theoretical and methodological framework, complemented by Islamic and transnational feminist perspectives. IE begins from the standpoint of women’s everyday experiences, examining how institutional policies and texts shape their academic and emotional lives. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with Indonesian Muslim women PhD students from diverse faculties and were analysed thematically. As an insider researcher, I also engaged with participants both offline and online, serving as a friend, community leader, and ethnographer, which enabled me to gain deeper insight into their lived realities. The findings reveal that institutional mechanisms such as doctoral milestones, progress reports, and counselling protocols profoundly influence students’ emotional well-being. These women constantly balance the intellectual rigours of research with the invisible emotional work of sustaining belonging, identity, and faith within a culturally unfamiliar system. Framing emotional labour as both survival and resistance, this study demonstrates how Indonesian Muslim women scholars enact agency and resilience in Western academia that often marginalises their experiences. Ultimately, the research contributes to reimagining international doctoral education by centring the strength, complexity, and lived realities of Muslim women navigating global academic spaces.

Authors:
Ana Nurhasanah Surjanto, Monash University, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Ana Surjanto is an Indonesian Muslim woman and a PhD Candidate at Monash University, Australia. Her research sits at the intersection of international higher education, sociology of education, gender identity, and institutional policy, with a particular focus on the lived experiences of Indonesian Muslim women in Western academia.

With a background in international education, language teaching and Islamic studies, Ana brings a strong commitment to education, social justice, and intercultural understanding. She completed her Master’s degree in Australia (2016–2018), where she also developed community ties through cultural engagement, including with Australian football (AFL) in Indonesia. Ana has actively contributed to student leadership and cross-cultural initiatives between Indonesia and Australia, advocating for inclusive spaces and amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups, particularly those of Muslim women in global education contexts.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-surjanto

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

Bookmark