Checking in Revisiting five alumnae who have featured in Enlightened in the past year
Just over a year ago, Enlightened expanded to become the digital magazine you are reading today. Now, we're returning to three of the most popular stories featured since the relaunch, with updates and new reflections from five Edinburgh graduates. What's changed since the articles were published and how do they feel about the fact their stories have been so popular?
BACK TO THE ISLANDS
In Issue 01 of Enlightened, we spoke with 2017 law graduate Jennifer Sim about why she decided to move back to her native Shetland. She told us how the COVID-19 pandemic prompted her decision, explored her connection to the community, and why her future lies back on the islands. Where is Jennifer now?
I thought being a corporate solicitor was tiring but it turns out I didn't know the meaning of tired!
JENNIFER: "Two weeks after the article was published, I got married to my now husband, the photographer who took the pictures for the 'Back to the Islands' piece. Two weeks after that we found out we were expecting a baby. We then finally moved into the house we were building in Tingwall, Shetland and now we are living here as a family of three, enjoying beautiful views to the sea and getting to know the sheep who stroll past our windows in the morning looking bemused at our baby Angus jumping in his bouncer. I am now on maternity leave from my role as a solicitor and enjoying all things toddler groups, nursery rhymes and pram walks. My 'long-distance-lawyer' office is now acting as a spare bedroom for when one of us needs some undisturbed rest! I thought being a corporate solicitor was tiring but it turns out I didn't know the meaning of tired!
It's great that people took an interest in the article. Shetland is a dynamic, thriving place to live and I’m glad to have been able to come full circle and live and work in the community I grew up in. I hope others may be inspired to do the same, if they desire. I know that many city-based workers would would love a working environment offering scenic views and being home beside family, so I hope that this way of life continues to be an option for people."
📷 by Ray McGinlay
BEING RUSSIAN RIGHT NOW
In summer 2022, Enlightened featured Edinburgh graduate Anna Jakubova (now Anna Kitzberg) who decided to burn her Russian passport at a vigil for Ukraine. In 'Being Russian right now' we asked Anna how it feels to be a Russian in Scotland, and what she's doing in response to the war in Ukraine. What's happened since we last spoke?
I don't particularly identify as Russian anymore.
ANNA: "I've learned to speak Ukrainian and am now fluent in it. I've become involved with Dr Hanna Tekliuk's wonderful Edinburgh Spiders group that weaves camouflage nets for the Ukrainian army and, if everything goes to plan, I will be the coordinator for their new location. I’m currently in Ukraine where I'll stay until the end of July volunteering for a friend of mine as a summer camp counsellor at a camp for Ukrainian kids. I've also become a part of the Scottish Government's Ukraine Stakeholder Group dedicated to promoting the voices and needs of displaced Ukrainians in Scotland. I don't particularly identify as Russian anymore. I'm a Russian-speaking Estonian Jew and feel like Estonia, where I was born, is more of a home country to me than Russia ever was.
I hope people reading the article are not parsing it as an apologia of Russians. Russia is a coloniser country and its society, language, and cultural identity are all complicit in the colonisation and the genocides Russia has committed and continues committing. So I would not wish people's takeaway from the article to be anything along the lines of "we shouldn't judge all Russians" or "Russia is not so bad", because it is not about individual people, it is about the system, and the system that is Russian culture is a corrupt and broken one. I said it in the article and I'll say it again - it's Ukrainians' voices that should be centered, Ukrainians' opinions that should be listened to, and Ukrainians' feelings that should be respected."
Learn more about Edinburgh Spiders here.
📷 by Glenn Campbell
SCOTLAND AND ME
In 'Scotland and me', published in the third issue of Enlightened, we asked three graduates - Francesca Sobande, Laura Westring and Rachel Weiss - to share their views on the relationship between Scotland and its ethnic minority citizens, including themselves. What followed were powerful thoughts on the meaning of identity, belonging and fitting in. What have our alumnae been up to since the article came out?
I finished writing a book on the relationship between brands, media, issues of injustice, and digital culture.
FRANCESCA: "Since the article was published in winter last year, I finished writing a book on the relationship between brands, media, issues of injustice, and digital culture – Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture (University of California Press, forthcoming 2024). I also co-authored a graphic novel, Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us, with layla-roxanne hill, which was illustrated by Chris Manson, and was translated in Scots (by Lesley Benzie) and Scottish Gaelic (by Naomi Gessesse). Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us follows 14-year-old Ola’s thoughts and dreams in this story about the experiences, history, and lives of Black people in Scotland. The work was supported by funding from ESRC IAA and AHRC IAA grants from UKRI, provided through Cardiff University. In addition to the novel, an accompanying Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us animation was co-created with Leeds Animation Workshop (featuring music commissioned by Nathan Somevi).
It's good to know that there has been much interest in the article, but it's important that the experiences of many Black people in and from Scotland are meaningfully acknowledged and supported. So, I hope that the article is and continues to be read as part of a much wider engagement with the different lives and histories of Black people in and from Scotland."
Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us is freely available to download here. Free print copies of the graphic novel will be available across a range of spaces and places in Scotland and Wales, and enquiries about stocking them can be sent to BeingBlackinScotland@gmail.com. The animation can be viewed here.
📷 Courtesy of Francesca Sobande
It's the beginning of a beautiful second act in life and one that I hope MY SON will be proud of.
LAURA: "Unlike me, 60% of Iranians are under the age of 30. Like me, they don't have any memory of the revolution that would impact the trajectory of their lives forever. But while I enjoy liberty in Scotland: cutting my hair; safeguarded by human rights, Iran's children have offered up their lives to the cause of Women Life Freedom. 40 years on from the execution of 17-year-old Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other Baha'i women in Shiraz, women who refused to relinquish their faith - as I've had to make some profound life choices personally since the Scotland and Me feature - I consider it my duty to use whatever small influence I have to prove that democratic systems can be enhanced and made more welcoming to every child who has ever dreamed of contributing their spirit and talents to the world. In March, the University of Stirling held the first Festival of Political Communication; this was my latest project inspired by the Landecker Democracy Fellowship, encouraging young people of diverse backgrounds to consider taking up professions in which they can shape and promote inclusivity. I also had the honour of commenting for the BBC News channel on Jacinda Ardern's final valedictory speech in Parliament. My plan is to continue supporting healthy, inclusive Scottish democracy; flinging open the door for my son's generation behind me. It's the beginning of a beautiful second act in life and one that I hope my son will be proud of.
I think the article resonated with many of us who have grown up with more than one identity. It's a fight to find your place as a young person, but activism is one way in which you have the power to create the very place for yourself in society that your families and communities have always hoped for."
📷 Courtesy of Laura Westring
I want to stop fitting in.
RACHEL: "My voluntary work with Menopause Café charity has been focused on organising #FlushFest23, the original menopause festival, taking place in Edinburgh on 8th and 9th September 2023, in-person and online. This feels right, but also scary, so I’m a mixture of excited and nervous! Val McDermid and her wife, Professor Jo Sharp, will be keynote speakers talking about living with a menopausal partner. There will be a storytelling, sculpture, singing, writing, slow-stitching and talks on sleep, nutrition, assertiveness, sex and neurodiversity.
I am delighted 'Scotland and Me' was so popular! It was the hardest article I've contributed to. Not only was it personal but it touched on topics that are uncomfortable for me and still emerging. My national and racial identity are something I am used to glossing over and am only recently finding the courage to examine. So doing that in public was a challenge and I’m glad it was of interest to fellow alumni. I leave you with wise words from Dr Brene Brown: “Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.” The quote is from 'Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone'. I want to stop fitting in."
The full programme and tickets for the FlushFest23 can be found here.
📷 by Andrew Cawley for the Sunday Post
Our new Enlightened was launched in 2022 and is a response to feedback from our alumni community. In this digital publication we take time to explore issues in depth. We respond to current areas of discussion and debate and attempt to reflect the diverse and wide-ranging interests of our global Edinburgh community.
All Enlightened issues published to date can be found here.
All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.