Jan 14

Jan 14 #95 | Our Humanity In Times Of Peril: War, Community, & Revisiting Trauma w/ Samra Culum

Samra Culum is Student Development Coordinator at the College of Southern Idaho (CSI), and a refugee. Samra, as a child, fled with her family from war-torn Bosnia, and through the CSI Refugee Resettlement Program, settled in Twin Falls, Idaho with her family.

In this episode, Samra discusses what her and her family experienced in her community in Bosnia as underlying tensions and divisions broke out into war and ethnic cleansing, and what the process of escaping and eventually resettling in the United States was like. Samra then goes over her feelings and thoughts about the recent surge of anti-refugee sentiment that has emerged in the Twin Falls area surrounding the CSI Refugee Resettlement Program in recent years, and how difficult, painful, and important it is to revisit traumatic memories and experiences and process them in a meaningful way.

This is a conversation between myself, Cynthia Jones (Artistic Director of Inspirata Dance Project) Skyler Rienstra (music producer) and Samra Culum. Segments of this conversation will be used for an upcoming performance by the Inspirata Dance Project.