Our latest Alumni Q&A is with Bridget Anderson, Director of Professor of Migration, Mobilities and Citizenship at the University of Bristol. Bridget volunteered with Jacari in the early 1980s at a time when we also provided English language tuition to adults who use English as an additional language, especially mothers, as well as children.
1. When did you volunteer with Jacari?
1981-1982
2. Who was your pupil?
She was called Fatima and she had three young children. She spoke Urdu and lived just round the corner from me in East Oxford so we shared the same neighbourhood but a totally different space. It was such a privilege being able to move between these two worlds.
3. Can you tell us the most vivid memory of your time as a Jacari volunteer?
Fatima’s food! She made delicious cauliflower curry …. Never forgotten!
4. What are you doing now?
I direct a research centre at the University of Bristol called Migration Mobilities Bristol (MMB) and I’m a Professor of Migration, Mobilities and Citizenship.
5. How has being a volunteer with Jacari influenced you later in life?
I wouldn’t trace my working at MMB straight to Jacari, but I think it did help me make connections between my studies (I studied Philosophy as an undergraduate) my politics and my practice – what I did in my life. This is a lesson I’ve never forgotten.
Comments