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Local Voices, Living Words: exhibition launch, talk and guided tours
Key information
- Date
- to
- Time
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6:00 pm
- Venue
- SOAS University of London
- Room
- KLT
- Event type
- Launch & Lecture
About this event
Join us to celebrate the opening of Local Voices, Living Words, a new SOAS Library exhibition that brings to light the translators, teachers and collaborators behind missionary linguistics in the Asia Pacific.
We're marking the launch with an opening talk and drinks reception on Friday 16 October, followed by a series of intimate guided tours across the launch weekend. It's a chance to hear directly from the curators, Dr Lars Laamann and Professor Niki Alsford, and to explore rarely seen material from the SOAS Special Collections up close.
About the exhibition
Missionary dictionaries and grammars have long been celebrated as scholarly achievements of empire. This exhibition tells a different story. Every lexicon was negotiated, every grammar co-produced, and every translation shaped by local knowledge. Through manuscript dictionaries, annotated Bibles, vernacular newspapers, photographs and correspondence, Local Voices, Living Words recentres the local catechists, translators and intellectual collaborators whose labour made these texts possible.
The exhibition asks: Who spoke? Who was recorded? Who was silenced? It also links these historical archives to today's language revitalisation movements, inviting visitors to consider how colonial collections might now serve decolonial futures.
Language was never simply translated. It was negotiated, resisted and lived.
Programme
Opening Talk & Reception
Friday 16 October, evening
Hear Dr Lars Laamann and Prof. Niki Alsford introduce the exhibition and the stories behind it, then stay on for drinks and conversation.
Guided Tours with Dr Lars Laamann
Explore the exhibition in a small group (maximum 10 people per tour).
Friday 16 October: 7:00pm to 7:30pm
Saturday 17 October: 10:00am to 10:30am
Booking
Places are limited, so we recommend booking early. Please note that guided tours require separate registration: a Talk & Reception ticket does not include a tour place. If you'd like to join both, please book a ticket for each.
