Mirene Arsanios — Notes on Mother Tongues: Colonial Legacies, Social Stratification, and the Ethics of Giving Without Ownership

Description

Ugly Duckling Presse, pamphlet

Publication Date: October 15, 2020

Publisher Marketing: Lebanese writer and editor Mirene Arsanios meditates on the relationships between mother tongues, motherhood, and colonialism. In this pamphlet, she investigates the historical and personal circumstances that led to the loss of her “native” language. Written as a fictional essay, NOTES ON MOTHER TONGUES explores language as a field shaped by diasporic histories, class relations, and broken familial legacies. It strives to imagine mother tongues and motherhood beyond the labor of reproduction—languages that exist in troubled ecosystems where lack does not preclude repair.

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