Wandering Words

Yohan Shanmugaratnam,  a journalist and writer from Oslo, will unpack imaginaries of belonging in the Nordics though the lens of language. What happens when your background is split, not in two, but three countries and languages? How do diaspora realities affect a migrant’s vocabulary? He looks back at his own journey – from a Tamil village, via a Japanese suburb, to Norway – and discusses how perpetual identity crisis, and gradual cultural loss, also can be turned into a superpower.

Comment by Kristina Gustafsson, Associate Professor at Linneaus University and project leader for ReJustice: The Nordic Research Environment on Language, Justice and the Welfare State

The lecture is part of the Public Lecture Series “Unpacking the Nordic Model.”
Online: A webinar link will be sent to registered participants prior to the event.
The reception will take place in the foyer by Akademisalen before the lecture from 15:15-16:00.
The lecture will take place from 16:00-17:00. Register HERE before November 5 ^th 2024 at 23:59.

Yohan Shanmugaratnam debuted as a writer in 2020 with an essay about racism and roots. The following year he published a reportage about Brexit, migration, class and love with photographer Line Ørnes Søndergaard. His third book, from 2022, is about the popular Norwegian-Indian-Egyptian rap group Karpe. His interpretation of the Karpe song “BARAF/FAIRUZ” went viral and became part of Karpe’s ten major Oslo Spektrum concerts. Shanmugaratnam was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, where his father is from, and spent parts of his childhood in his mother’s country Japan. He grew up in Ås and has a degree in Human Geography from the University of Oslo.