“Colonisation is not just the clearance of people’s lands. To sustain unequal power relations, it is an ongoing clearance of our minds. A people without a history struggle to know themselves. A person who struggles to know themselves will feel insecure in their sense of agency in life. Rootlessness left unresolved can lead to inner disconnects between people and place. The oppressed can then so easily flip to becoming the oppressor, as the Persian second devil sets loose. Narcissism, or pronounced self-centredness, is less a choice than an affliction.”
Alastair McIntosh, Soil and Soul: People Versus Corporate Power,
In this episode we start at the beginning by exploring how the process of development has deeply affected neighbourhoods like Shieldfield. We weave conversations with Shieldfield residents alongside sociologists, artists, theologians and activists about the emotional effects of development on people’s everyday lives and sense of self and how these processes have caused not just physical displacement but also emotional and spiritual displacement.
We also ask you to consider how the processes of development are affecting your community. What are the multiple effects of gentrification where you live ? How is it preventing certain communities from flourishing? How can you call attention to what is happening?
Contributors to this episode include Shieldfield residents: Ken, Val, Sharon, Mahamat, Haley, Sheryl, John, Ronnie as well as contributions from Loretta Lees, Chris Jones, Willie James Jennings, Darren McGarvey, Alastair McIntosh, Julia Heslop, Hannah Marsden, Lydia Hiorns, Gemma Herries and Alison Wilkinson.
REAL / SYMBOL 