This article presents a scholarly autoethnography that intertwines the personal, spiritual, and intellectual journey of an Indonesian Muslim woman who undertakes a doctoral program (PhD) in Australia. It reflects on the lived experience of navigating the doctoral process chapter by chapter, where academic labour is punctuated and sustained by the rhythm of daily prayers performed five times a day. Prayer, as both a spiritual discipline and an embodied practice, provides continuity, grounding, and resilience, positioning scholarly writing as inseparable from acts of faith and emotional endurance. The narrative demonstrates how each stage of the doctoral journey corresponds not only to intellectual milestones, such as confirmation, data collection, analysis, and submission, but also to acts of care and resistance. Drawing on Islamic feminism and care-focused feminism, this work highlights how women’s voices and lived realities must be placed at the centre of both religious and academic discourse, challenging reductive interpretations that marginalise women’s contributions in international education. At the same time, Institutional Ethnography (IE) provides the analytic lens to connect personal experiences with broader institutional structures, including milestone requirements and university regulations that shape everyday life. By situating the self within these intersecting frameworks, this autoethnography illustrates how prayer, care, and writing form a triadic structure of survival, resilience, and agency for Muslim women scholars in Western academia. Ultimately, the article contributes to discussions of international doctoral education by foregrounding how faith and care practices are not peripheral but central to the intellectual and institutional negotiations of Muslim women’s academic lives.

Authors:
Ana Nurhasanah Surjanto, Monash University, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Ana Surjanto is an Indonesian Muslim woman PhD Candidate at Monash University, Australia. Her research is at intersectionality of education, sociology, religion, and policy, focuses on Indonesian Muslim women’s experiences in Western academia.

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

Connect on ResearchGate
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=y9UMJ-cAAAAJ&hl=id

Additional website of interest
https://www.instagram.com/ana_surjanto?igsh=bHNkdXlpY2J4M3dk

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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