Should have been my mother tongue: Ahilan Ratnamohan
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Theatre-maker Ahilan Ratnamohan lives in Antwerp and has a language obsession. He was born in Australia to Sri Lankan-Tamil parents and produces texts and performances in English and Dutch. His parents never really passed their language on to him. It was only recently that he started to learn his should-have-been mother tongue, through online conversations with his 71-year-old mother and with the help of members of the Tamil diaspora. In this talk, Ahilan examines how the absence his mother tongue impacted and impacts his appreciation of literature, music, film, and social customs. What does our mother tongue tell us about the world? Which doors does our first language open for us? Can they be opened later?
Ahilan invites the audience to share their own reflections and experiences on the subject at the end of the talk.
A three-part lecture
In this second talk of a three part series (which can be followed independently!) Ratnamohan dives into the links between certain linguistic aspects and the understanding of works of art and cultural products. He wonders: how far is his extremely Western taste in culture a product of the language he grew up with?
The theme of the first talk, given on 2 February 2022 at the Kaaistudio’s, was ‘community’. At the Passa Porta Festival, Ahilan presents part II (Culture). Part III (Pedagogy) will take place during the Kunstenfestivaldesarts.
about the author
Ahilan Ratnamohan was born in Australia into a Sri Lankan and Tamil family. He lives in Antwerp. He is a theatre-maker with an obsession for language. In his work he researches language-learning as a form of performance and simultaneously attempts to understand how performance can affect the learning process. His shows take surprising, unconventional forms. In 2021, together with Sulaiman Addonia, he kicked off our series ‘The Wonders of Multilingualism’ (in collaboration with Kaaitheater). In 2022 his Dutch-language solo Alle woorden die ik nog niet kende – about his original methods to learn Dutch and the reactions of Flemish people to these methods – premiered at the Kaaitheater.
Coprod. Passa Porta, Kaaitheater, KFDA, Robin
© Jonas Lampens
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