Working with Cultural Data: Languages, Bodies and Praise Poetry (SLEG event)

This workshop, led by Alison Phipps and Tawona Sitholé from the University of Glasgow, is part of a series of Second Language Education Group (SLEG) events. All SLEG seminars are free and will take place in person in Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge For additional queries about this seminar, please contact Phung Dao: pd543@cam.ac.uk.

In this workshop, Alison and Tawona will: 

• introduce you to some of the ways of working they have devised for working with ‘cultural data’ using multilingual and translanguaging approaches. They will work with proverbs, idioms and objects to develop ways of devising and embodying work, stepping outside of verbal and written expressions and allowing for theatre and play to create offerings.  
• introduce a way of developing cultural and linguistic identity work using indigenous frameworks which Tawona will introduce from his own cultural heritage. These also meld with those Alison has worked on with Māori scholar Dr Piki Diamond and are offered also with full permission. Through this element in the work participants will develop their own way of introducing themselves and also of reflecting their language heritage and ancestors. 
• if time permits Tawona and Alison will offer some of their theoretical reflections and analysis of what creative work with language and cultural materials can do in interdisciplinary and also humanitarian settings. This element of the workshop will rest on the work they have conducted with UNESCO Art Lab and Alison’s work with the framework for Measuring Intercultural Dialogue. 

Alison Phipps is UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow and Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies. She was De Carle Distinguished Visiting Professor at Otago University, Aotearoa New Zealand 2019-2020, Thinker in Residence at the EU Hawke Centre, University of South Australia in 2016, Visiting Professor at Auckland University of Technology, and Principal Investigator for AHRC Large Grant ‘Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the body, law and the state’; for Cultures of Sustainable Peace, and is now co-Director of the Global Challenge Research Fund South South Migration Hub. She is Ambassador for the Scottish Refugee Council. She is an academic, activist, educator and published poet. 
 
Tawona Sitholé is a poet, playwright, mbira musician, educator and facilitator. His ancestral family name, ganyamatope dzapasi, is a reminder of his heritage, which inspires him to make connections with other people through creativity, and the natural outlook to learn. As co-founder of Seeds of Thought arts group, Tawona’s work involves supporting and facilitating access to the creative arts. Tawona is Poet in Residence for GRAMNet and works in a variety of settings and institutions. He is Research Associate with the Migration for Development and Equality (MIDEQ) research project. As he continues to write, teach and perform, mostly he appreciates his work for the many inspiring people it allows him to meet.