Liberating Language, Liam Renouf, SOAS University of London

Abstract

My presentation focuses on minority languages as a tool of resistance. The film follows William Renouf, who was 4 at the outbreak of the Second World War. It follows his tale of Jersey under occupation and recounts his memory and the way that Jerriais was used as both a tool of resistance and as a tool to recount certain memories. As well as a way of recording this memory, I try to understand movement and geography to create an Anthropologically rich and Ethnographic piece that situates itself in debates surrounding representation in Visual Anthropology.

Furthermore, I am currently continuing this project through a different Anthropological lens. I want to situate Jerriais contemporarily inside a globalised Jersey. Through recordings of Jerriais, people’s contemporary interaction with Jerriais and the iconoclash of large finance’s spectacle and Jersey’s agricultural industry, I want to situate Jerriais inside a globalised world. In addition, I want to fundamentally understand an ‘Anthropology of Minority languages’ and create an artefact, or rather artefacts, that engage with this and cross the boundaries between Film, Anthropology, Psychogeography, Art and Language Documentation to contextualise and continue this debate.

About the speaker

Liam Renouf is currently studying BA Anthropology and Visual Practice at Goldsmiths, University of London. Originally from Jersey, Channel Islands, he began learning Jerriais at school and carried on until the age of 17. He worked in L'Office Du Jerriais as a transcriber for 3 months before starting his BA and has remained interested in the politics of memory connected with Jerriais.