Patricia Kanana Mwenda and Candide Uyanze

"In My Tongue is an audio-based, multilingual interactive documentary that investigates different languages and the relationships people have with the languages they speak. A series of interviews were conducted from January to April 2021 with nine people from Canada and Kenya in several languages including Bemba, English, French, Kikuyu, Lingala, Meru, and Swahili. The project leads are Trish and Candide, OCAD U Digital Futures graduate students who conducted and participated in the interviews. Candide is a Canadian of Congolese descent and Trish is a Kenyan. The participants of the project are all multilingual and English speakers. Candide interviewed four Canadian participants: Lumenganu and Gabrièla, who are of Congolese descent; Wanda, who is of Polish and Nicaraguan descent; and Z, who is of Congolese and Zambian descent. Trish interviewed three participants; Mwenda, Roy, and Salome, all of whom are Kenyan. The series of audio snippets explores the many layers, nuances, and politics that reside within and between languages. Notable themes, keywords, and topics addressed include: - Emotions: confusion, conflicted feelings, joy, regret, discomfort, loathing, frustration, relief - Memories: childhood, language learning, travelling - Social groups: family, friendship, ancestors, school, village, workplace, tribal/ethnic community, marriage - Positive elements: advantage, cool factor, “sexy” factor, beauty - Negative elements: dying language, punishment, colonialism, language barriers, shame - Miscellaneous: immigration, spirituality/religion, Indigenous languages, dyslexia, slang/dialects, accents, music/singing, intelligence, media, class status, mixing languages (code-switching), intonation On the website, audience members can filter through the snippets on the “Browse” page, or listen to them all on the “Audio Snippets” page. We also invite visitors to leave voice and/or written responses.. " https://vimeo.com/538923566