Deep Roots: Showing up to Justice Work with Cultural Grounding
Lost Together Podcast with Marika HeinrichsShow Notes
“Sometimes we don't know who we're from, what lands we're from, what culture we're from, what language we're from. But that culture, those ancestors, that language, know exactly who we are.” What happens when we try to do justice work without knowing who we are? Ben Reid-Howells is a Scottish-Canadian community organizer, educator, Gaelic language and culture learner, co-founder of the Centre of Resilience (Bihar, India); the "Vasudhaiva [VAH-SOO-DAY-VA] Ride" Transnational Project Series; and founding director of Deep Roots Alba, an initiative for cultural regeneration, decolonization, healing and solidarity rooted in Scotland and globally connected. Ben is also a musician, wood worker, and lives on the West Coast of Scotland. In this conversation, Ben shares his journey across continents, movements, and communities, and the turning point that shifted everything: being told to go find his own people. From Indigenous land defence movements to reconnecting with Gaelic language and land in Scotland, this is a story about moving from cultural emptiness to grounded belonging. We explore the relationship between ancestry and responsibility, the limits of guilt, and why reclaiming land-based culture is not separate from political work but essential to it. This conversation is about rebuilding cultural roots, holding complexity around whiteness and colonialism, and remembering ways of being that were never fully lost. https://www.benreidhowells.com/ https://www.instagram.com/deep.roots.alba
RESOURCES Deep Roots Gatherings: https://deeprootsalba.org/ Resilient Floating Village Project: https://www.centreofresilience.org/floating-village-project Grassy Narrows: https://freegrassy.net/ Unist’ot’en Land Defense: https://unistoten.camp/ Tom Langhorne: www.youtube.com/FandabiDozi
Lost Together is produced by Marika Heinrichs and Becca Rich. Our music is by Cristoffer Moe Ditlevsen, Mixed by SC Dillon. Sound Engineering and Editing by Marika Heinrichs.
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More from Lost Together Podcast with Marika Heinrichs
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We won’t be sharing a new glossary episode this week, but encourage you to listen to this one on Land Back if you haven’t already. We’ll be back next week with our final episode of the season! This week our glossary entry is on Land Back. Episode 2 of the podcast explores the relationship between cultural reconnection and solidarity activism. We reflect on our relationship with land as both settlers and descendants of land-based traditions that were nearly lost. If you haven’t listened yet to my conversation with Ben Reid-Howells on how reconnecting with his Scottish roots was ignited by solidarity with Indigenous Resurgence on Turtle Island, you can go back and find it in episode 2 Deep Roots: Showing up to Justice Work with Cultural Grounding. Links: Land Back: A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper Rehearsals for Living On Settler Colonialism in Canada: Lands and Peoples Unsettling the Settler Within - Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada Ancestral Embodiment audio course
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We won’t be sharing a new glossary episode this week, but encourage you to listen to this one on Transformative Justice if you haven’t already. We’ll be back next week with a new conversation to share!