Episode #17 with Blindian Project's Jonah Batambuze

The Swinging Palm Trees Podcast

On today's episode, Jonah and I chat about relationships, in particular 'blindian' relationships, and how he started the #BlindianProject, a media platform and global community at the intersection of Black and Brown culture.
We also talk about identity, heritage and why Black is seen by many as 'other' within these Indian Subcontinent communities. We also talk about the very real challenges of being in a blindian relationship and the toil it can have on a couple's mental health and wellbeing.
We also chat about Jonah's kids and their love for Rasam (South Indian soup), travel, Jay-Z and haggling!
Jonah Batambuze is a Ugandan-American, multidisciplinary creative, and founder of a community for Black and South Asian people called the Blindian Project. https://www.blindian-project.com/ , which started back in 2017 that was inspired from an incident of African students being attacked by street mobs in New Dehli. The #BlindianProject aims to normalize Black x South Asian relationships while dismantling anti-Blackness and believes in removing negative stereotypes by creating experiences that unite our communities and inspire solidarity.
The #BlindianProject is the "meeting place for Black x South Asian communities". Started as a passion project in 2017, the project drew its inspiration from an incident in which street mobs attacked African students in Noida, New Delhi. Restarted at the beginning of 2020, the events of this year have seen the community grow enormously.

'The #BlindianProject aims to normalize Black x South Asian relationships while dismantling anti-Blackness and believes in removing negative stereotypes by creating experiences that unite our communities and inspire solidarity.'
The project have published a new book 'When We See Ourselves', which can be bought at all good book retailers including Amazon.
#blindian

Thanks for listening to the episode. I'd like to thank my guest for their time, insight and being a great sport!
I would also like to thank my producer, Ashanti Omkar, for all her hard work.
If you'd like to be a guest, drop me a line at [e-mail].
Keep Rising & Thriving. Aṣẹ!