In this episode, we chat with Fazle, Pravini and Siela, three Indo-Surinamese or Hindostanen, about their experiences growing up and living in the Netherlands, at the heart of empire.
Fazle (they/he/she/dem) – @fazle_shairmahomed
Fazle Shairmahomed creates decolonizing rituals, performance art, and dance. Their work is rooted in ancestral work and intersectional activism. Through the urgency of community building their work creates spaces in which different communities are invited to nurture conversations around colonialism and the ways in which it has impacted our histories and the ways in which it exists today. The multi-sensorial approach in their work also challenges the ways in which we perceive the world around us through themes such as death, rebirth, ancestry, belonging, colonial histories, and healing. Since 2013 he is also one of the members of CLOUD danslab, an artist run dance studio which supports research and practice of dance, movement, and performance art in the Hague.The physcial work and research of Fazle is deeply rooted in ways of approaching the state of trance, through archaic movements and ritual practices mostly inspired and informed by Muslim/Sufi traditions of Gnawa, Zar, the whirling Dervish; Japanese Butoh, Surinamese Winti culture, Hindu rituals, Caribbean Bubbling, Muslim funeral practices, Vogueing, and the Club.
Pravini (she/her/hers) – @pravinimusic
Pravini Baboeram is an artist and activist, creating art to contribute to social change. As an independent artist she has set up her own label Pravini Productions, that has produced 5 albums, 6 singles and 5 international tours. She is co-founder of action committee Holi is not a Houseparty, a campaign against cultural appropriation of the Hindu spring festival Holi, and initiator of the Anti-racism Voting Guide. In addition, she led the campaign Tetary Must Rise, a crowdfunding campaign for the replacement of the statue of colonizer Barnet Lyon by the Hindustani warrior of resistance Janey Tetary. Pravini also set up Indian History Month to celebrate stories and contributions of people from the Indian diaspora. In 2019 she released her new album and documentary “The Uprising”, a film about the anti-racism movement in Europe.
Siela (she/her/hers)
Siela Ardjosemito-Jethoe is an anthropologist and sociologist. She has spent the past 20 years working in the field of diversity inclusion, with equity as its foundation. She started within welfare and social work and later on switched to higher education and the public sector at the level of national and local government. On June 1st, 2021, she started as the Diversity and Inclusion officer at the University of The Arts- The Hague. She also runs her own company Connecting the Dot’s unlimited where she provides training, coaching and advice and she works as a wordartist. She contributed to several publications such as Superdivers! (2013), Onbeschreven Erfgoed (2017) and Diversiteit in de Samenleving (2017 and 2020), she is editor-in-chief of the latter. Furthermore, she writes a monthly column about diversity and inclusion at the Sarnamihuis and is a columnist for Cultuurpers. With her husband and children she created the podcast Diversity in Check and she is jointly responsible for the podcast ‘Zeg maar gewoon wit.’ She is a supervisory board member for Mauritshuis, chairperson for Lloyds Company and board member of Het Haags Theaterhuis.