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Photo by Theon Delgado Sr. / @FortyEight209
Mural in Southwest Detroit
Stories of multilingualism and migration
We often think of translation as a process of finding equivalents across languages. But translation is much more than this. As a form of connection, translation has the power to change and transform linguistic and cultural meanings. It can both uproot and preserve tradition. And in the movement between languages and cultures, it can help us to see ourselves and our communities from different angles.
This website is an invitation to “translate” Michigan so that we may see it from a new, multilingual perspective.
Highlighting vibrant multilingual and migrant communities from across the state, the projects housed here show that Michigan is far from a monolingual or homogeneous space. They reveal the many ways that translation is present in our everyday lives, often in ways we do not even notice.
Read your stories here!
We are collecting stories written by Michigan residents of all ages, about their experiences of multilingualism and migration.
Visualizing Translation
Homeland and Heimat in Detroit and Dortmund
This traveling exhibit features photographs of Southwest Detroit and Northern Dortmund, Germany. It offers an intimate look at immigrant-owned businesses, multilingual signage, graffiti, and street arts, combined with audio interviews that prompt us to consider the meanings of home and homeland from a multilingual perspective.
Multilingualism, Migration, and Muralism in Southwest Detroit
Reflecting on a century of transnational Muralism in Detroit, this collection features an exclusive interview with visual artist Elton Monroy Durán and a virtual tour of his murals in Southwest Detroit. Durán’s murals spotlight the untold stories of the migrant and multilingual communities of Southwest Detroit. Like translation, his work is an act of mediation that seeks to foster mutual understanding.
All materials for this project are available in Spanish and English.
Yiddish in Michigan
The Middle East in Metro Detroit:
(Post) Ottoman Migrations
This multilingual project documents the synergies, tensions, and inter- dependencies among migrant communities from the former Ottoman Empire in early 20th century Detroit. It showcases diverse images and archival materials in Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Ottoman and modern Turkish, Ladino, and Hebrew.
This collaborative project showcases Yiddish poetry, prose, journalism, and letters reflecting on the experiences of Jewish communities around Michigan over the past century.
Collected from local archives and translated into English, these materials reveal an interconnected and multilingual Midwest where Jewish cultural production has thrived.
