Degrowth in Scotland is an interview podcast series brought to you by Enough!’s Scottish Degrowth Network. Hosted by emerging podcaster Nico Ndlovu, the Degrowth in Scotland podcast series invites you to (un)learn more about degrowth and decolonisation, through discussions with people involved in this work across Scotland.
The Scottish Degrowth Network is part of Enough! Scotland, a collective committed to developing ideas in response to the frames of degrowth and decolonisation. Sign up to our Glasgow Gathering in March here.
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Episode 6 – Nico Ndlovu and Bronagh Gallagher
In this final episode of the Degrowth in Scotland podcast, Nico concludes the series by reflecting on his learning and experience over the past five episodes. Enough member, Bronagh, returns to chat with Nico about the process. Nico talks about his excitement at speaking with the incredible interviewees, the challenges of language and how he is thinking about things differently as a result of the experience.
Episode 5 – Theona Morrison and Thomas Fisher
In episode five of Degrowth in Scotland, Nico speaks with Theona Morrison and Thomas Fisher, founding directors of CoDeL, a community-based research platform established following the recognition of young islanders returning, settling or staying in the seven Outer Hebridean islands of Uist. Theona and Thomas talk to us about land ownership, cultural expression, language and community cohesion in rural Scotland. They explain how a decolonial approach can be utilised by focusing on a community’s assets rather than its deficits and moving away from highly planned systems to a process-based approach that are inclusive, dynamic, and fluid in terms of its outcome. Follow CoDeL messages on Redefining Peripherality, Young Island Voices and more on their blog, facebook and twitter.
Featured guests: Theona Morrison is a founding Director of CoDeL which was established following the recognition of young islanders who were returning, settling or staying in the seven Outer Hebridean islands of Uist. Theona is Chair of Scottish Rural Action. Theona sits on the UHI Post Graduate committee (nursing and midwifery) and Community Land Scotland’s working group to develop curriculum materials embodying the opportunities within community land ownership. Theona has lived in Uist for over 30 years, previously she worked for a multination corporate company at senior level which provided an insight into global trading; the polar opposite to the local economic model which sustained the islands for generations and which can lead the way for the future.
Thomas Fisher is a founding Director of CoDeL. He led the international partnership for the NPA-funded research on economic impacts of Covid which led to the call to redefine peripherality, to view island and rural communities through a new and very different lens, rooted in the experience of island life in the Outer Hebrides.Thomas has lived in Uist for almost 20 years, engaging in diverse community development roles and projects, including for children and young people. Formerly Director for Enterprising Communities at the new economics foundation and Visiting Fellow at IDS, Sussex University, Thomas worked for many years in rural development in India, working with Tibetan refugees and a range of Indian development organisations, and has published three books on rural non-farm employment and micro-finance.
Episode 4 – Lauren Pyott and Matt Baker
In episode four of Degrowth in Scotland, Nico speaks with Lauren Pyott, founder and managing director of Clachworks, a social enterprise in Inverness that plans to open a socially inclusive space for making and remaking in a heritage workshop building on the Caledonian Cana. Nico is also joined by Matt Baker, a full-time public artist who founded The Stove Network in the heart of Dumfries, a social enterprise that provides regular employment for 40 people from the creative sector.
Lauren talks to us about plans to open Clachworks, a socially inclusive space for making and remaking in Inverness, based on a heritage workshop first used to construct the Caledonian Canal over 200 years ago. Matt talks to us about ideas for developing a radical approach to the way we ‘do’ culture in Scotland, with a shift towards mass participation in culture rather than what we have now – a passive consumption of culture that is produced by a privileged and exclusive cultural workforce.
Featured guests: This week’s podcast featured Lauren Pyott and Matt Baker. Lauren is the founder and managing director of Clachworks. She is also a freelance translator (Arabic-English), editor, researcher and writer. Her research explores the politics of solidarity within the cultural industry, the industrial heritage of the Highlands and its global significance, and other internationalist perspectives from the north of Scotland. She is also a trade union activist with Bectu and is involved in setting up a Highlands and Islands branch of Living Rent, the tenant’s union. You can follow her on Twitter @laurenpyott and find out more about Clachworks at: www.clachworks.com / @clachworks
Matt Baker has been a full-time public artist for over 25 years. Since 2011, he has focused on long-term activist strategies for integrating creative practice into his home region’s social, economic, and political structures in South West Scotland. Matt was one of the founders of and leads The Stove Network in the heart of Dumfries town centre, a social enterprise that works in partnership with the local community. The Stove was the first Community Development Trust run by artists in Britain and won the Creative Regeneration category of the Scottish Regeneration Awards in 2016. Find out more about Matt here: www.mattbaker.org.uk and the work he does with The Stove here: www.thestove.org
Episode 3 – Kate Chambers and Joss Allen
In this week’s episode of Degrowth in Scotland, Nico speaks with Joss Allen of Atlas Arts, which organises collective art projects across Skye, Raasay and Lochalsh. Kate Chambers, a writer, thinker and Circular Economy Consultant also joins Nico in episode three of Degrowth in Scotland. Joss talks to us about the work Atlas are doing to foreground approaches of degrowth and alternative/solidarity economies into the very core of their work: how can ATLAS play a greater role in shaping and producing a fairer, socio-ecologically just economy? Kate talks to us about her work as a Circular Economy Consultant, the relationship between Resources and Waste Management, and her role as trustee with 2050 Climate Group, a charity which empowers young people in Scotland to take climate action in ways that are meaningful to them.
Featured guests: This week’s podcast featured Joss Allen and Kate Chambers. Joss is co-artistic director (maternity cover) and Alternative Economies Manager at Atlas Arts, based on the Isle of Skye. Atlas Arts organises collective art projects across Skye, Raasay and Lochalsh – on the North West coast of Scotland. Through a programme of long-term projects, screenings, residencies, meals, workshops and sharings, Atlas Arts work with artists and local residents to have conversations that are rooted in this place and this time. Find out more about work Joss does with Atlas Arts here.
Kate is a writer and thinker interested in the relationships between economic systems and ecological crises. Kate works as a Circular Economy Consultant, helping organisations to better understand their relationship to Resources and Waste Management. She is also a Board Trustee with 2050 Climate Group. As part of her role as a Trustee with 2050 Climate Group, Kate was invited to take part in Zero Waste Scotland’s Demystifying Decoupling Advisory Group. The group published a report in 2020. Find out more about the work Kate does with 2050 Climate Group here and follow Kate on Twitter @theburdtweets.
Episode 2 – Abi Mordin and Col Gordon
In episode two of Degrowth in Scotland, Nico speaks with Abi Mordin of Propagate, a worker-led collective specialising in local, community and sustainable food projects across Scotland. Nico also speaks with Col Gordon, a farmer’s son, who lives in the Scottish Highlands. Abi tells us about food sovereignty, community and how an inclusive and collaborative attitude encourages everyone to be involved in thinking about and co-creating regenerative and agro-ecological food systems. Col discusses Gaelic Scotland, ideas related to being both coloniser/colonised and the implications this has for trying to decolonise in this territory. How are Gaelic cultures that are living, breathing and are about new possibilities created, rather than becoming museum pieces?
Featured guests: This week’s podcast featured Abi Mordin and Col Gordon. Abi is a founder member of Propagate and a seasoned food activist. Abi live in Dumfries and Galloway, has 2 grown up children and just about managed an MSc in Food Security (although she would rather be gardening). Find out more about the work Abi does with Propagate here: https://www.propagate.org.uk/
Col is a farmer’s son and seed researcher who is based on his family’s farm in the Scottish Highlands. He was the narrator and co-producer of Farmerama’s podcast series “Landed,” which investigated the past, present and future of the family farm model through the lens of colonialism. Listen to the series here: https://farmerama.co/episode/landed-part-1-the-family-farm/
Episode 1 – Bronagh Gallagher and layla-roxanne hill
In episode two of Degrowth in Scotland, Nico speaks with Abi Mordin of Propagate, a worker-led collective specialising in local, community and sustainable food projects across Scotland. Nico also speaks with Col Gordon, a farmer’s son, who lives in the Scottish Highlands. Abi tells us about food sovereignty, community and how an inclusive and collaborative attitude encourages everyone to be involved in thinking about and co-creating regenerative and agro-ecological food systems. Col discusses Gaelic Scotland, ideas related to being both coloniser/colonised and the implications this has for trying to decolonise in this territory. How are Gaelic cultures that are living, breathing and are about new possibilities created, rather than becoming museum pieces?
Featured guests: This week’s podcast featured Abi Mordin and Col Gordon. Abi is a founder member of Propagate and a seasoned food activist. Abi live in Dumfries and Galloway, has 2 grown up children and just about managed an MSc in Food Security (although she would rather be gardening). Find out more about the work Abi does with Propagate here: https://www.propagate.org.uk/
Col is a farmer’s son and seed researcher who is based on his family’s farm in the Scottish Highlands. He was the narrator and co-producer of Farmerama’s podcast series “Landed,” which investigated the past, present and future of the family farm model through the lens of colonialism. Listen to the series here: https://farmerama.co/episode/landed-part-1-the-family-farm/