Voice/Track Support: Plamen Mirchev 

Content Feedback: Silvena Garelova  

The 5th Episode of Pedagogy of Integrity Podcast is about the topic of learning and teaching to comprehend and to explain a specific culture: Dengbêjî 

Our guest is Dr. Marlene Schäfers Marlene Schäfers is a social anthropologist and holder of a Newton International Fellowship awarded by the British Academy. Her research focuses on the impact of state violence on intimate and gendered lives, the politics of death and the afterlife, and the intersections of affect and politics. She specializes in the anthropology of the Kurdish regions and modern Turkey. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and was Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Research Group at Ghent University, Belgium. 

Further Links: Twitter: @MarleneSchafers Project: 

From Van to Yerevan, with Dengbêj Gazin and Ashugh Leyli, Kalan Music 2017 

 Song (Gulê) interpreted by Dengbêj Gazîn : Gulê bav file   

Some questions/topics, we have discussed: 

How did the journey with Dengbei start; what inspired you to explore so profoundly this topic? 

Why Dengbêjî? What led you to researching the particular topics of singing/voice; Dengbêjî; women and work of pain? How would you describe your own perspective on dengbeji culture in terms of your own belonging? 

What ethical aspects matter to you when it comes to doing research on indigenous practices? Internal/external positions; gaze; objectivization problematic etc. Do you sometimes have inner conflicts/dilemmas/concerns when you do research on this topic? Are there other conflicting interests in the field you do your research at – between politics, art and research objectivity? How do you deal with critical voices towards what you do? What is the super-power of an external perspective towards a ‘cultural practice’? Would you say your interaction with the practice of Dengbêjîand the field research you have been doing have affected in some way the way you teach in a western academic institution? 

The topic of this episode was planned to be discrimination and education as well as the overlapping issues, like identity, gender, sexuality and migration. The topic moved slightly into the topic of racism and education. I have talked to Ray Shami.  He is an Syrian - Canadian expert in this field.  We have touched many topics including the most important one; the tragic death of George Floyd, an innocent black man who was killed by a policeman in front of public eye.  Ray will tell us about his journey all the way from Syria at the age of 16 and his work from being educator, artist, trainer, and now employment councillor and Coach. From his experience till how to empower people, especially queer people of colour, we had a good exchange on all the elements which are or should belong to education. Now you will hear the conversation between me and Ray, and I hope you will get inspiration and motivation. Ray has a great energy. I had chance to work with him 2 years ago in the topic of Human Rights in Weimar at the European Youth Educational Center.

With the sudden Corona outbreak, as educators, we are on an edge transferring our facilitation work into virtual spaces. It seems like existing online platforms and tools enable good communication so that we can continue working and yet it is not the same.How to bridge the gap between offline and online education?  How to create and sustain meaningful conversation and relationships online. We had a talk to share the worries, fears, hopes and coping strategies and new ideas for our future educational work. 

Magdalena Latuch is a Trainer and Facilitator. Her facilitation expertise and experience based on social facilitation and community building, social diagnosy and implementation of re-granting programs and social and cultural initiatives (local and international level). She cooperates and supports the community representatives in the field of project development and inclusive leadership.

Pedagogy of integrity is a brave space for educators, teachers,trainers and facilitators. With this space, we are hosting meaningful and authentic conversations.