DR CONTRACTOR MEETS FOCUS GROUP OF LOCAL BAHÁ'ÍS

Dr Sariya Contractor, Project Researcher from the University of Derby on the Religion, Belief, Discrimination and Equality Project, is coming to the end of her four-week stint in Leicester, the first of four cities covered by the project (the others being Blackburn, Cardiff and Norwich). During that time, she's been talking with individuals and groups from different communities, discussing their experience and perception of discrimination on grounds of religion or belief.

Today she's meeting a focus group made up of some Bahá'ís from the city and from just across the border in the county. We're at Minou Cortazzi's home for a couple of hours this afternoon. The photograph shows (left to right): Dr Sariya Contractor with local Bahá'ís Jan, Celia, Minou, Leila and Maha. I'm the only male here today (and I'm the one behind the camera).

We start by talking about the local Bahá'í community's history, its current situation, its relationship with other faith communities in the city - points of contact, similarity and distinction between them. We get into some quite profound areas in our discussion, encompassing family matters as well as international aspects (Bahá'ís can't speak about religious discrimination without bringing to mind the plight of their fellows in Iran). I'm not going to record here what was said, but I felt happy and privileged to be part of this occasion today.

This is my second meeting with Dr Contractor during her visit for this project. To read about our first meeting, see blog entry for 31 March.