UNESCO Chair Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts (RILA)

This year the UNESCO Chair partnered with Solas Festival to host a unique showcase of cultural events under the theme of Home along with the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

These events are the artistic culmination of 3 years work through the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded large grant "Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the State".  The international team of researchers, with their different disciplinary backgrounds, research experiences, language and performance skills, conducted international comparative research on translation and interpretation at different kinds of border in order to develop theory, ethical research practices and research methodologies in relation to multilingual research.  

Playscripts and music developed by Creative Arts and Translating Cultures (CATC) Hub members, Tawona Sitholé and Gameli Tordzro were de- and re-constructed in Ghana in 2016 with members of Noyam African Dance Institute and Ha Orchestra.  The fruits of those collaborations were performed at a packed and sunny Solas Festival 2017 by Noyam and Ha Orchestra, as part of a suite of activities curated by Prof Alison Phipps, Principal Investigator of RM Borders and UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts.

The pieces performed at Solas were devised over the course of the RM Borders project in collaboration with researchers at seven international partner organisations: 

• University of Glasgow, UK ‌  ‌
• Durham University, UK
• Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza
• Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
• University of Manchester, UK
• University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
• University of the West of England, UK

For an interactive summary of the events at Solas, please see our Storify!

Images (C) Karen Gordon

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Solas Festival

Researching Multilingually at Borders of Language, The Body, Law and The State

First published: 27 June 2017