RM Borders Project Overview & Bail Observation Project Presented by Alison Phipps 7 Dec 2015, University of Glasgow Languages, Refugees & Migration Event

1. Researching Multilingually at the
Borders of
Language, the Body, Law and the
State

3. Researching Multilingually
Two overarching aims:
1) to research interpreting, translation and multilingual
practices in challenging contexts, where language is under
pain and pressure, and,
1) while doing so, to document, describe and evaluate
appropriate research methods (traditional and arts based)
and develop theoretical approaches for this type of academic
exploration.

4. Research Context
• Concepts of borders and embodiment, superdiversity,
security/insecurity, raise important practical and ethical
questions as to how research might be conducted.
• These concepts trouble the nature of traditional modern
languages and concepts of translation and culture.
• Languages act as proxy for diversity and practical
understandings are required not least for integration of
populations on the move.

5. Methods
Focus on Methods: Part of the innovative nature of the project
lies not in using new methods per se, but rather
(i) in comparing across discipline-specific methods,
(ii) interrogating arts and humanities methods where the
body and body politic are under threat, and
(iii) in developing theoretical and methodological insights as
a result.
(iv) Arts based representations

6. A framework for
researching multilingually
An overarching theme – Develop researcher intentionality of
possibilities and complexities of researching multilingually at all
stages of a research process across wide range of fields.
Relationships - researchers, participants, mediators,
interpreters, translations, team members
Spaces – research (phenomena); researched (context);
researcher (language resources); re/presentation
(reporting/dissemination)
Presenting Multilingually? An Art: Visual/Oral.

7. practice

8. 5 Case Studies
1) Global Mental Health: Translating Sexual and Gender
Based Trauma (Scotland/Sierra Leone)
2) Law: Translating vulnerability and silence in the legal
process (UK/Netherlands)
3) State: Working and Researching Multilingually at State and
EU borders (Bulgaria/Romania)
4) Borders: Multilingual Ecologies in American Southwest
borderlands
5) Language Education: Arabic as a Foreign Language for
International Learners (Gaza)

9. Law Case Study: Bail Observation
Sarah Craig/ Karin Zwaan/Anna Beesley
In a bail hearing, an Immigration judge considers
whether immigration control justifies someone’s
further detention, and decides whether they
should be released.
Bail hearings are therefore a site where
communication takes place in conditions of pain
and/or pressure.

10. Tribunal in English
Communication can be difficult for many
reasons, including (firstly) because the tribunal
processes take place in English and the applicant
may need an interpreter.

11. Video Link from Detention
Secondly, the applicant often participates in the
hearing from detention, which means they rely
on a video link to communicate with the judge,
the Home Office representative, their own
representative, the interpreter, and any
supporters or family members.

12. Challenges

13. Creative Arts
Ha Orchestra;
Poetry Collection
Musical Drama
Aotearoa New Zealand
Refugee Language Education in Lebanon
Poverty Truth Commission
.

15. Researching Multilingually at the Borders of
Language, the Body, Law and the State
Alison.phipps@glasgow.ac.uk
@alison_phipps
http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com

16. http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) through the Translating Cultures Programme
[grant reference AH/L006936/1]