Who am I? SJ and Mona revisited

Welcome to a dive into the Sharing things archive and a selection of 5 episodes that revolve around the themes of belonging, fitting in and finding your place. These are conversations about growth and about identity. In our third episode we revisit the conversation between SJ Sandhu and Mona Siddiqui and listen to them as they talk about the flying frisbee of death, evocative smells and taking ownership of faith.  

This episode is hosted by Amalie Sortland, who joined us in the summer of 2019 and stayed until March 2020. She graduated in politics as part of the class of Covid in 2020.  

Sanjeevan, aka SJ, is a second-year medicine student at the University of Edinburgh. He’s originally from London, although according to everyone who knows him, he’s actually from Essex.  

When he isn’t studying or attending his 9am classes, SJ loves to play sports and represents the University at futsal. Along with six of his closest course mates, he is currently creating his own podcast, ‘Medic Matters’, as part of a second-year project.  

Mona is Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She also holds the position of Assistant Principal for Religion and Society, and Dean International for the Middle-East.  

Mona studied Arabic and French at the University of Leeds, followed by a Masters in Middle-Eastern Studies and PhD in Classical Islamic Law at the University of Manchester. She is a regular guest on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Thought for the Day’ and became a panellist on BBC Radio 4’s award-winning ‘The Moral Maze’ in 2016.  

Her contributions to interfaith services were recognised with an OBE in 2011 and she was awarded the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation in 2019.  

Each episode of Sharing things is a conversation between two members of our university community. It could be a student, a member of staff or a graduate, the only thing they have in common at the beginning is Edinburgh. We start with an object. A special, treasured or significant item that we have asked each guest to bring to the conversation. What happens next is sometimes funny, sometimes moving and always unexpected.

Find out more at www.ed.ac.uk/sharing-things-podcast

This episode of Sharing things was recorded before the Covid thing (just).

Images designed by Chris Behr. They are part of his Nice Things icon set.