In this show, you will hear about Auroville, an experimental international township in the South of India. This interpersonal and intercultural experiment was founded exactly 50 years ago in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa also known as “the Mother”. At first, we will listen to Noel Parent talking about his intercultural and spiritual journey and give us some detailed impressions about life in Auroville and what he enjoys most about this magic place. Our German student Lucas Bolten, who is currently studying a semester abroad at our partner university, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in India, will talk about his experience as a guest visitor in Auroville. And finally, we will listen to Noel Parent talking about the educational system and the importance of “learning by doing” in Auroville.
absolutely spiritual
In our first category “absolutely spiritual” a member of the Auroville community, Noel Parent, will share his experience of Auroville which he sees as his new home. He experiences the other world outside Auroville as very different in every aspect. However, we also learn that the community faces the same challenges such as decision-making, hierarchy and resolving problems inside this microcosm of Auroville but tries to deal with them in a more consensual manner.
absolutely peaceful
In the second category “absolutely peaceful” Lucas Bolten, one of my three exchange students who are currently doing a semester abroad in India will share his experience as an outsider when he visited Auroville for a day as a visitor.
absolutely educational
In our final category “absolutely educational” Noel Parent, who we listened to in the first interview now talks about formal and informal education in Auroville, and how the attitude to learning may differ from the educational systems we are used to in our own countries. He also shares with us how education is organized in Auroville and about the role of mistakes in the learning process in Auroville.
Thank you all who joined us for today’s show. Please check out our website at absolutely-intercultural.com. Here you can get more information about this and previous episodes. And if you liked our show, please like us on Facebook, too.
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Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on 2nd November
Until then –
Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!
The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann
Editor: Mariane Castro
Assistant: Selsela Arya
