• Thu 16 07 2020 / 5 – 6 pm •
Exophony: Mother Tongue Other Tongue

mit RANJIT HOSKOTÉ, BANAFSHE HOURMAZDI

Poet, curator, translator and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskoté presents a selection of his poetry written in English. In his poems Hoskoté combines mythology, history and linguistic play with questions related to the Indian subcontinent. The actress Banafshe Hourmazdi will read the German translation from the volume Die Ankunft der Vögel (Hanser, 2006).

Afterwards Ranjit Hoskoté will speak about the concept of ‘mother tongue’, a concept that is set against all other learned languages as ‚foreign‘ languages (other tongues). Hoskoté critically questions the idea of a socially normative language, national affiliation and the politically forced standardization of languages. With a look to the current movement of immigrants he also takes a critical look at the potential for resistance in everyday language practices that are based on a multilingual register.

The evening concludes with a Q&A. The audience can ask questions via Zoom chat and Facebook comments.

The event will be moderated by Madhusree Dutta, the artistic director of the ADKDW.

We use Zoom to conduct the online meeting. The Zoom meeting room will open at 4:50 pm (CEST). The Zoom link is available here. The event will be broadcast on our Facebook Account.

Doors: 4:50 pm (CEST) Start: 5:00 pm (CEST)
Language: English | German
Free Admission

Exophony: Mother Tongue Other Tongue is a part of the Exophony: program, which explores the processes of writing, reading and listening, manipulations of and through language as well as interaction and communication. There is a particular focus on experiences of and with multilingualism, translation and translatability. Exophony: offers the opportunity to collectively rethink communication structures and language practices and to explore the diversity and simultaneity of a shared language landscape.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Exophony: Mother Tongue Other Tongue event scheduled for April 21st 2020 had to be cancelled. It will now take place on July 16th online and in different form.

The event Exophony: Mother Tongue Other Tongue is organized in cooperation with Literaturhaus Köln.
The program series Exophony: is funded by Kunststiftung NRW.