This week on Growing up with gal-dem, Natty and Charlie are joined by award winning British Sudanese economist and writer Nesrine Malik. Reflecting on her upbringing and travel to the UK, Nesrine talks to Natty and Charlie about what it means to navigate the worlds of education and work having grown up in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and how our need to mythologise, create stories, and sometimes delude ourselves is a universal trait.  Nesrine reads an extract from an article written 9 years ago, and discusses how her own approach to criticism and writing has changed over the years, and how important it is to recognise and respect the ways our own experiences and advantages have shaped the way we think. Natty and Charlie reflect on this within the context of group-think, communities, and safe spaces. How do our attempts to create spaces of comfort or recognition based on shared experience potentially push us into damaging or limiting ways of thinking, and how can we prioritise inclusivity without inadvertently becoming exclusionary?   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.