Community based Community based multilingual research in the multilingual research in the

North East of EnglandNorth East of England

Flexible multilingualism and language shift in researcher-participant interaction

Sara Ganassin

Outiline of the sessionOutiline of the session

Research Context: Research Context: Aspen Culture ProjectAspen Culture Project

• Introductory research to a regional CLG funded women’s project running between 2009 and 2011

• About the project:Creating safe spaces for women for sharing issues

affecting themFostering positive changes and cultural engagement Focus on women from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker

backgrounds

• Areas of activity: research, training, group work, producing resources, events and conferences

Research on women’s cultural inequalities

• Promoting the women’s subjective perspective on culture and barriers to its access

• A diverse team of 11 volunteers trainedas researcher-photographers working with women across the NE

• Qualitative research methods (focus groups and participatory photography to produce images representing the issues)

• Four main themes: Fine arts Food Festivals & Heritage Performing Arts I will be much closer to you, when I eat the

same as you

Complexity of linguistic positions

• Focus groups as main settings• Multilingualism and language diversity as

embodied in the research• 11 volunteer-researchers and 68 participants from diverse ethno-linguistic backgrounds• At least 15 mother-tongues • English as central for the whole research design

The role of English• English as central and mandatory for the research

design and report writing• BUT• English was not the mother-tongue of a large majority of participants• Nor the researchers’ mother-tongue• Often ‘colonial’ language• Which English?

‘I think that an issue especially regarding, well, English but also French is that is the official language of many, many countries so I mean even if pronounce is not properly British like people from where English is one of official languages and very good English in terms of grammar or expressions or whatever you want, sometimes there’s just kind of understanding’ (Quote from focus group)

Where there’s a will there’s a way

Some issues and reflections from the study

• Diversity of languages and levels of command involved

• Need to translate concepts often private and emotional

• Effective communication researcher-participants

• English to be kept as central for the research design and to allow everyone’s participation

• Avoidance of interpreters• Given a multilingual setting

language was not openly problematised within the research implementation

Participants able to support each other in the translations

Ability of language shift as premises of the research

Power relations researcher-participant: absence of language authority?

• ‘Reassurance’ coming from the fact that everyone is ‘foreigner’ and different level of English are accepted

• Reflexivity research-participants: shared experience of migration

• BUT• The researcher is also external from both the

host community and the participants’ ones• Flexible multilingualism and use of a third

language to facilitate the conversation

Versatile multilingualism: an added value?• Multilingual participants and researchers are

more used to paraphrases • It allows not to use interpreters• ‘Empowering’ for people who translates in the

focus groups as they feel value for their linguistic diversity

• In multilingual groups those who feel disadvantages are generally the monolingual elements

• Richness of conceptual meanings

Some points for discussion: what linguistic Some points for discussion: what linguistic premises for community based research?premises for community based research?

•Experience of community practitioner applied to research

•Effective engagement and language switch

•Multilingualism vs interpreting

•Researcher as outsider or as insider?

Normative multilingualism in community Normative multilingualism in community based projects?based projects?

•‘I feel embarrassed I am the only one here who cannot speak more than one language’

So much to see and learn..am I intelligent enough to understand?

Thank youThank you• Project website: Project website: www.aspenculture.org.uk

• Contact: Contact: sara.ganassin@durham.ac.uksara.ganassin@durham.ac.uk