A Classroom Without Walls

I’ve been thinking a lot about identity lately. The interest was sparked by reading “On Identity,” Stan Grant’s rich insight into indigenous and Australian identity and all the complexity within that statement. Over the summer, I reflected further on this through the story-telling of Malcolm Gladwell in “Talking with Strangers” and his resounding thesis that most problems in the world emerge from our inability to relate to others who might be unfamiliar along some dimensions, whether it be race, gender, background, religion, political views or age, and our haste to blame when all goes awry. Which brings me to the educational immersion for 29 University of Queensland sports law students I recently led to India. Once again, the theme of identity emerged front and centre, when the president of our partner university, OP Jindal Global University, Professor Raj Kumar, explained so eloquently the vividness and energy of India. “It is about identity,” he said, “… and we must remember that we have multiple identities and recognise this in each other and in ourselves.” This resonated with me and reflected all that I had been reading of late from such different contexts. How can we judge anyone when they are so multifaceted? I’m a woman, a researcher, a teacher, a lawyer, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a neighbour, an Australian born from a patchwork of nations and the list goes on. And now an enduring identity for myself and our students- part of the Indian immersion cohort and travelling learners all over the world.