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To finish off the school year in style, I am celebrating the recent Aulre and Areiac conference which took place in Exeter University on 26th and 27th June 2025. We speak with Pat Hanan, Ruth Marx, and Katie Gooch about the history of the two organisations and the planning that went into the conference. I then talk to delegates and speakers throughout the conference, and finally, Ruth, Katie, and Jan Maguire talk to us after the conference to celebrate the joys and successes of what was an incredible and rich two days. We also start looking forward to next year's conference. If you have never attended an Aulre/Areiac conference, I hope this episode whets your appetite and encourages you to join us in Lincoln next year.

It's such a lovely episode to end the year on as it celebrates the RE community as well as the amazing research that is being undertaken to help us be even more brilliant in the classroom.

http://aulre.org/

https://www.areiac.org.uk/

Thank you for listening over 2024/5. Have a summer holiday full of relaxation, joy, laughter, love and I'll be back in September.

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This weekend, 5th / 6th July (10th Muharram), sees many Shia Muslims all over the world mark the Day of Ashura. A commemoration of the martrydom of Muhammad's grandson, Husayn who died standing up for justice. In 2025 this fight is still poignant. Zam Hussain has already done an episode on Ashura which if you haven't listened then please do. But this week he joins us to tell us about his own personal pilgrimage to Karbala to visit the grave of Husayn. In his moving, human and deeply spiritual account of this pilgrimage. We discuss;

• What the pilgrimage is and what happens
• The history of this pilgrimage
• How it links to Shia teachings
• The challenges faced and what practical things were put in place to support the pilgrims
• Fun stories along the way
• The emotions at the grave
• The impact of completing this pilgrimage

Zam has recently had a tattoo relevant to this pilgrimage - listen to find out more!

Please also look at this incredible thread with pictures alongside the episode to get a sense of what it looked like as Zam speaks

https://x.com/MrZHussain/status/1830714068795355512?t=5nJ_45aNpWkWl9gi4cbMug&s=08

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This week, I speak with Alexandra Brown, RE Teacher, speaker, poet, and researcher.

Her unique intersection between race, gender, neurodiversity, and sexuality has caused many people to put up barriers as she attempts to put her research into practice. At great personal cost, she has had to navigate these barriers.

Alex speaks to us with humility and passion, from a place of pain and triumph, about her journey.

And wait till the end for something deeply profound.

To find out more about the work Alex does;

Artistic collaboration (which she does not often get to share)- Entitled ‘ Pain and womanhood

https://magicalwomen.co.uk/project/facilitated-collaboration-for-black-lives-matter/
Below is the link to the artistic reflection Alex did about the initial piece

https://magicalwomen.co.uk/project/alexandra-brown/

She also presented a paper entitled ‘A Black Queering of Encanto: Unearthing atmospheres of violence’
Reparative Queering of Religious Institutions | Queer(ing) Religion conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D3Bd0Ypbis&t=1342s

Alex's section is from 22mins 28secs- 45mins 16secs

https://blackfeministcollective.com/contributor-alexandra-brown/

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Find out more;
Twitter: @TheREPodcast1
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Webiste: www.therepodcast.co.uk