Pacific Roots, Powerful Voice: A Conversation with Professor Jioji Ravulo

When Professor Jioji Ravulo appears on screen, you can feel his warmth immediately — the kind of grounded presence that makes big ideas feel close to home. In this episode of PEP Talk, recorded back in 2021 during the long days of lockdown, Salā Marie Young sits down with the University of Sydney’s first Pacific professor to talk about identity, belonging, and purpose.

Though the interview was filmed during COVID, its message remains evergreen. In a time when Pacific people continue to bridge cultures and generations, Professor Ravulo’s reflections remind us what it means to honour where we come from while building the future.

Honouring the lands and our roots

Before diving into his story, Jioji begins with respect — acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which he stands, the Dharawal people of New South Wales. He reminds us that sovereignty was never ceded, and that for Pacific peoples living in diaspora, recognising Indigenous peoples where we live is a vital part of our own identity.

“It’s important that we understand space and place,” he says, “and how our traditional ways of knowing, doing, being and becoming can be meaningfully included in our everyday conversations.”

From Ra, Fiji to Western Sydney

Jioji’s father hails from the village of Nayavuira in Ra, Fiji, and his mother from Sydney, Australia. They met at a barbecue in the 1970s — a meeting of cultures that shaped a family of five children growing up in public housing in south-western Sydney.

“My dad only went up to Year 8 in Fiji,” Jioji explains. “My mum went to teachers college. They both had a real desire to see their children engage in education — for Dad, because he wanted us to have a better life, and for Mum, because she believed education could open every door.”

Their commitment paid off. Today, Jioji is a social worker, researcher, and academic leader, passionate about creating inclusive systems that reflect Pacific and Indigenous perspectives.

Education as empowerment

For many Pacific families, education is seen as both a hope and a responsibility — a way to uplift not just individuals but whole communities. In that sense, Jioji’s story mirrors so many others in the Pacific diaspora: parents making sacrifices, children navigating two worlds, and a shared belief that knowledge is power when it serves the collective good.

As he tells Marie, “We need to see our own Pacific Indigenous heritage as valuable and important in our everyday realities.”

Connecting across oceans

Salā Marie responds by drawing the connection to Aotearoa: how Pacific communities here also acknowledge tangata whenua and the shared journey toward equity and representation. Their dialogue becomes a bridge — between Australia and New Zealand, between islands and continents, between Indigenous peoples whose stories echo across oceans.

Together, they speak of identity not as something static, but as something alive — a relationship to place, to people, and to purpose.

Why it still matters

Years after this interview was recorded, the message feels even stronger. Representation matters. Cultural identity matters. And voices like Professor Jioji Ravulo’s remind us that education, when guided by values and community, becomes a tool for liberation.

At PEP, we believe in the same truth that Jioji embodies: our heritage isn’t a weight — it’s a foundation.

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Watch the full conversation: PEP Talk – Professor Jioji Ravulo on Pacific Identity, Belonging & Purpose

Listen on: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts