Callum and Alex talk with Indira about her recent Soul Singing event in the Universal Hall. This event and all Soul Singing sessions held in The Park raise funds for Indira’s volunteer work with the refugees in Calais, France. Indira is from a mixed race background (Indian-German) and both of her parents had been refugees. Born in London, she was herself ‘displaced’ to Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire when she was 7 years old.

As a child she experienced racism in many different contexts, and all her adult life has been involved with social and racial justice, both in an academic context (with masters degrees in international development and gender, and social anthropology; and a PhD in sociology of education with a specific focus on mixed race women and girls, identity and further education; and as a lecturer and teacher of sociology) and as an activist and volunteer especially around advocacy, justice and care for BAME people and refugees. In 2017 she went to the refugee camps in Calais where she found herself bringing an oasis of quiet through the singing of mantras to the fraught life of children in the camps. Since then she has returned there many times.

In their frank conversation they explore the culture here in the Community at Findhorn. As the privilege of our predominantly white, middle-class and relatively wealthy context is rarely acknowledged, there is the risk of a ‘bubble’ or ‘club’ culture which can create a sense of unsafety and exclusion for those who do not ‘fit in’ or who try to talk about these issues openly in the community. Challenging privilege has to be done by those with that privilege rather than expecting brown or black people (or LGBTQ+, or people with disability or neurodiversity, etc) to do the work for us all. This does not (yet) happen openly, only in small groups and individual conversations. If the Findhorn Foundation Community wants to do justice to its claim of being a beacon of light, it is essential to do more of that work.

review written by Cornelia Featherstone

Our Findhorn Barrel is a podcast series by Alex Wright and Callum Bell.
Click here for a list of other podcasts in the series.