Educational Films

Last week was very busy for me as I tried to finish drafting my book on ‘Religion in Birmingham’. I decided to add in two new chapters- Quakerism and Religion and Social Change. As I progressed with my research, I found that these two topics were essential to cover! The Quakers have a long and interesting history with the city and their presence has shaped its landscape, businesses, faith places and even studies at the university.

Furthermore, religion in the city of Birmingham has a huge effect on its society as a whole. Therefore, for this chapter, I’m looking into the ways faith groups impact and improve social factors in Birmingham such as poverty, environmentalism and education.

I also had a meeting with our CEO, Wei, where we discussed my progress and next steps as we move forward in the internship. We’ve decided that a great way to add value and insight in the book is to include some quotes from people in the local community. I hope to approach some people next week who have grown up within a religious community in Birmingham and interview them about their experiences. This will give a voice to the residents of the city whilst adding a personal touch to the book. 

We also discussed an exciting new project which would be to film educational videos about places around Birmingham that have connections to its religious life. For example, places of worship, statues or memorials. I’m going to start looking at how to approach this task and hopefully write up some scripts for the videos in the future!