Broken World, Broken Word Documentary

Published: 31 July 2017

AHRC Researching Multilingually at Borders has worked for 3 years to consider what it means to conduct research using multiple languages and incorporating elements of the creative and performing arts.

AHRC Researching Multilingually at Borders project has worked for 3 years to consider what it means to conduct research in multiple field sites using multiple languages and also incorporating elements of the creative and performing arts.

All the field sites were considering different aspects of researching multilingually where the body, language, law and the state are under conditions of duress, pain or pressure. The political crises and violence affecting refugees, most notably though not exclusively in Europe, came to the fore during the project and has provided a significant contextual impetus for the creative and translation process which led to the work devised by the young people of Noyam.

"Broken World, Broken Word" has been undertaken through ongoing, generative relationships between artists, linguists and researchers and the epic story of exile, war, persecution, resistance and safety the story has been told through many different academic and artistic media.

The generative themes which this collaboration and theses working relationships produced were then worked with using devising and improvisation methods, multilingually, with young dancers from Noyam who translated the themes of the research into cultural and multilingual forms of dance under the guidance of the directors and dramaturg, musicians, and costume designers.

Full details of the project and the research team can be found at researching-multilingually-at-borders.com


First published: 31 July 2017