Refuge and the Resistance of Joy

In a world beset by violence, it is easy to despair. The structures of violence historically have produced phobia and fear and been turned into systems of hate and exclusion.

Join us this week to look at the resources and creative practices communities can adopt which declare a different reality to one built on fear and instead declare that peace is with us.

Leading through stories of sanctuary, poetry, arts and drama and their own resources of survival, the team hopes to enable you to leave Iona having found peace, and a sanctuary. We hope you will continue your journey empowered to work joyfully for justice and with tenacity, humour and practical care.

Programme Leader

Alison Phipps is UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Education, Languages and Arts at the University of Glasgow where she is Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies and a Member of the Iona Community for 25 years.

Dr Tawona Sitholé is Lecturer in Creative Practice Education within the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Education, Languages and the Arts. In research and teaching he is part of CLIP (Culture, Literacies, Inclusion and Pedagogy).

‘Better known as Ganyamatope (my ancestral family name) my heritage inspires me to make connections with other people through creativity, and the natural outlook to learn. Educated by assigned teachers through the schooling system, and by natural teachers through ‘pasichigare’ (my ancestors lifestyle), I benefit from having more than one way of knowing/learning. As a result, I find myself playing many roles in creativity and education. I am a poet, playwright, storyteller and musician.’

Dr Hyab Yohannes is a Lecturer in Forced Migration and Decolonial Education with the UNESCO Chair RIELA at the University of Glasgow. Hyab’s research interests include poetics, decoloniality, and political theories across physical, onto-epistemic, spatio-temporal, and juridico-political dimensions. He advises UN bodies on human trafficking and slavery and is a survivor of torture and trafficking himself and medal recipient for his public engagement work with refugees from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Costs

6 Nights: £960 per adult, £480 concession.