Powerful Stories

Writing against - and beyond - settler colonial genocide

About

The Powerful Stories Network (PSN) was established in 2024 at the University of Sydney to present research, support community organisations, and publish on Indigenous and refugee stories in settler colonies across the world. PSN was the product of many conversations and reflections following the Powerful Stories Workshop that brought together researchers and Indigenous and refugee communities to discuss diverse forms, practices, and outcomes of storytelling. PSN has become a lively space to showcase cutting edge research and have critical conversations about Indigenous and refugee struggles both locally and internationally. It seeks to interrogate and subvert settler colonial violence through the voices of the most marginalised in society.

If you would like to connect with us, and/or join the network, please click here.

Upcoming Events

Creative Histories: Artists in the Archives

A panel discussion exploring practical ways in which artists and historians have collaborated on projects using archives, libraries and other historical research. When: Thursday 14 May, 6 pm - 7 pm (AEDT) Where: Nelson Meers Foundation Auditorium, Chau Chak Wing Museum Cost: $5 General Admission Artists can bring a new dynamic and creative approach to understanding historical enquiry. Historians, archivists and librarians can work with artists to find interesting new approach

APRON-SORROW / SOVEREIGN-TEA: Living Legacy Archives and the Poetics of Reckoning

An Evening with Associate Professor Natalie Harkin (Narungga) A Powerful Stories Network (PSN) event, co-sponsored with the Ritual and Performance Research Cluster at the Vere Gordon Childe Centre for the Study of Humanity Through Time Wednesday May 13, 5:30-7:00 pm Location - RD Watt Building, University of Sydney Join Associate Professor Natalie Harkin (Narungga) - poet and Research Fellow with the Critical Indigenous Studies team as Flinders University to celebrate and dis

Reading Periyar Now

Title: Reading Periyar Now May 1, 2026 06:00 PM - online only - please register at the link below. Abstract: This talk will discuss the Introduction and the chapter "Periyar's Anti-Aryanism" from The Cambridge Companion to Periyar. The discussion will revolve around Periyar's Self-Respect thought and his anti-caste praxis. Bio: Karthick Ram Manoharan is Smuts Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He is faculty of social sciences at National Law School of I