Book Launch and Discussion | Akuch Anyieth | Decolonising the Law in African-Australian Communities

The Powerful Stories Network along with the Past and Present Research Cluster at the Vere Gordon Childe Centre at the University of Sydney are delighted to invite you to a discussion of award-winning author, Akuch Anyieth's new work on Decolonising Family Violence Legal Intervention Orders in African-Australian Communities.

When: Friday, October 10, 6:00 for a 6:30 pm start

Where: Vere Gordon Childe Centre Boardroom, Madsen Building, University of Sydney

Registration: Free, but please RSVP here

Hosted by Niro Kandasamy, Akuch Anyieth, Sarouche Razi, and Ghena Krayem will discuss the new book - its origins, and implications, and the influence of Akuch's lived experience in its development, followed by an opportunity for audience Q&A. Akuch will highlight some of the systemic issues faced by migrants and refugees in Australia—issues explored in both her compelling memoir Unknown: A Refugee’s Story and her more recent work including this new book.

This event is sponsored by the Powerful Stories Network, the Past and Present Research Cluster at the Vere Gordon Childe Centre for the Study of Humanity Through Time, and the School of Humanities at the University of Sydney.

Dr Akuch Kuol Anyieth is a South Sudanese Australian academic and writer. She is an interdisciplinary scholar at La Trobe University and a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest (AVReQ), Stellenbosch University. She holds a PhD in Law and Society, dual master’s degrees, and trauma-informed coaching certification. Her research focuses on family and gender-based violence in African Australian communities, bridging customary and formal legal frameworks, while her current project examines gender-based and inter-communal violence in South Sudan.

Dr Anyieth’s scholarship and advocacy have been widely recognised through numerous awards. In Australia, she received the La Trobe University Distinguished Alumni Award (2024), the Centre for Migrant and Refugee Health CALD Communities Family Violence Awareness Award (2024), and was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2023). Her memoir, Unknown: A Refugee’s Story, was shortlisted for the Australian National Biography Award (2023). She has also received the Victorian Multicultural Commission Excellence in Justice Award and the Refugee Achievement Award (2022). Internationally, she has been honoured with the University of Juba, South Sudan Gender-based Violence and Peacebuilding Distinguished Scholar Award (2024) and AVReQ’s Research Excellence Award (2024) in South Africa.

Dr. Niro Kandasamy is a historian in the School of Humanities at the University of Sydney. She researches twentieth and twenty-first century refugee resettlement, foreign aid, and settler colonialism, and teaches modern histories of international relations, displacement, and social movements. 

Sarouche Razi is a lecturer at Sydney Law School and the Strategy Lead for the NSW Legal Assistance Forum.  He has over 10 years of practice experience in coronial inquests, racial discrimination, state accountability matters, and community lawyering, particularly in the Kimberley and the Western suburbs of Melbourne. His research focuses on applied critical legal theory, legal experimentation, and new possibilities in pluralism. Sarouche co-wrote a graphic novel, Once Upon a Time in Australia: Conversations about how our metoo movement exposed the troubles with truth in law, which was published with Counterpress in 2024.

Ghena Krayem is Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. For over 20 years her research has focused on the experiences of multicultural communities in Australia, particularly how minority groups, including Muslim Australians, engage with the legal system in areas such as family law, dispute resolution, and gender justice. She has published widely on the intersection of law, religion, and cultural identity. Her works include Understanding Sharia Processes – Women’s Experience of Family Disputes, Accommodating Muslims under Common Law: A Comparative Analysis, and Muslim Women’s Agency in the Australian Context. Associate Professor Krayem is deeply committed to advancing policy and legal frameworks that reflect Australia’s cultural and religious diversity. Her work often intersects with broader questions of legal pluralism, access to justice, and the practical implications of multiculturalism in a liberal democratic society, especially for women. She is also actively engaged in the family violence sector, centring lived experience of victim survivors in both research and practice. 

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