“Where were you?” Hard words for hard times – languages and justice in a time of war on refugees.

Speaker: Alison Phipps, Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies (Creativity Culture and Faith), University of Glasgow

What challenges to the churches and people of faith come with the chronic humanitarian situation facing refugees? At a time when 'the people are leading and political leaders are following’, this seminar will offer a narrative of the refugee ‘crisis’ of the last 15 years, the responses in Scotland at grassroots community levels, the new situation since September 2015 and its implications. It will weave together academic, poetic and personal accounts of the ways in which theological issues have surfaced in the symbols and narratives which accompany refugee presence and refugee hospitality. It will also present the work of the AHRC Large Grant under the Translating Cultures theme which is working with refugees in 11 countries worldwide and investigating what happens when the body and body politic are under such pain and pressure that our language(s) fail.