Bridging the divide: glowing possibilities of transcultural doctoral education in a Balinese-Australian case study

Doctoral education has undergone various transformations in recent decades to align with global shifts toward educational inclusivity, equity, and quality. However, western ways of thinking remain privileged, and doctoral students from non-western backgrounds must navigate the intercultural contact zone between their cultural knowledges and dominant western conceptualisations. Undertaking transcultural doctoral work to embrace diverse knowledges and ways of knowing presents challenges. In this article we explore how a doctoral team, comprising a Balinese research student and two white Australian supervisors, established transculturality to engage with Balinese epistemologies and their intersections with western perspectives. Through a self-study approach, three pivotal ‘glows’ were identified that supported transcultural doctoral work, by promoting relationality, opportunities to take risk, and structuring research processes and representations with Indigenous Knowledges. We argue that our interactions within the micro and meso dimensions of a ‘Histories of Knowledges’ framework, provided generative opportunities to extend into macro epistemological levels to decolonise traditional understandings of doctoral work.