Following are the notes I made whilst listening to the Reith Lecture: Where do we draw the line/ Scale /Defining a nation/ Partition of India in 1947 – largest human migration in history/ People’s/ Spirit of people/ It’s the process/ The clearly expressed to continue living a common life/ Q&A/ Habits of thoughts/ “Having a definition is not the same as managing”.
After listening to the lecture and then Q&A session, I decided to take a little time to meditate on what I had just heard. It was a fully loaded hour, with topics within the lecture that resonated with me deeply. I learnt that so much of who we have come from other places, and my own Indian heritage is an amalgamation of many different peoples
To share with my students an excerpt from this lecture, could encourage a bigger conversation, encouraging students to reflect on their own cultures, with a positive appreciation, and acknowledgement of who, and where they come from, in a manner that they may not have explored. To be creatively analytical in the reviewing process, empowering the development of their personal intersectionalities.
To cite an example of a faith story, last summer, I lost a dear auntie to me, who I class as one of the original settlers in our Punjabi Christian communities in Oxford. Her name is Shila Gill (1939-2022). She was a warm, loving and kind woman. She was the only person who called me ‘Jeeshee’, which she endearingly composed, being a woman who predominantly spoke Punjabi.
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