This volume offers a fresh approach to the study of intercultural communication and language in the diaspora by adopting the lens of migratory aesthetics, whereby the experience of migration is explored through its artistic and cultural representation. In their thought-provoking Introduction, the editors exemplify migratory aesthetics through the projects ‘Future Memory in Place’ in Glasgow (Scotland), where academics, artists and residents came together to recreate visually and aurally the lived everyday experiences of the Red Road housing estate residents – Glaswegians first, then migrants and asylum seekers. This ‘public sound expression of an intercultural domestic memory’ (9) is taken as an instance of how the arts can hold together ‘aesthetic, affective, situational and liminal layers which coexist in migratory settings’ (11). Alison Phipps and Rebecca Kay identify ‘aesthetic resonance’ as a major theme linking the papers included in the volume, where the symbolic, subjective, affective and creative dimensions of language and intercultural communication come to the fore through different media and in a range of geographical contexts (the UK but also France, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal and Australia). The book’s chapters were originally published as articles in a special issue of the journal Language and Intercultural Communication (14.3, 2014). As the editors explain, the inspiration for the special issue came out of their work as founding co-convenors of the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network set up at the University of Glasgow, and of numerous cultural initiatives which have forged new creative synergies between the city and its migrant population.

Migrant literature is the focus of three articles. In ‘Divorce and dialogue: Intertextuality in Amara Lakhous’ Divorzio all’islamica a viale Marconi’, Mariangela Palladino adopts a postcolonial literary perspective to analyse the novel [Divorce Islamic style in viale Marconi] by the Algerian Italian writer Lakhous, a witty re-writing of the film Divorzio all’italiana [Divorce Italian style], an iconic representation of the Italian family mores in the 1950s. Palladino shows how intertextuality is used in the novel to foreground the numerous commonalities – social, cultural, linguistic – between local and immigrant cultures (symbolized in the choice of the novel’s title) while at the same time responding to the local culture, with the intent of opening up a dialogue between the two. This ‘intercultural mediation’ is realized in particular through the use of irony and of multivocal narrative. For example, while in the film the theme of divorce indexes the patriarchal Italian society, the Islamic divorce of the novel ironically becomes a tool of emancipation for Safia, an Egyptian woman living in Rome. Likewise, the multiple identities of Christian, the Sicilian man who is able to work for the Italian secret services by impersonating a Muslim Tunisian thanks to his knowledge of Arabic, allude to the ever-present cultural and linguistic diversity of the Italian context (in particular the North–South divide), thus questioning ideologies of national homogeneity. As argued by Palladino, this novel remaps geographical and cultural terrains across the shores of the Mediterranean, and furthers the much-needed dialogue between Italians and immigrants.

Migrant literature can also become a rich teaching tool, as demonstrated in ‘Learning across borders – Chinese migrant literature and intercultural Chinese language education’ by Yongyang Wang. Wang puts forth a pedagogical approach where migrant literature serves to integrate language learning and cultural awareness, and the literary text becomes the key to access and understand culture. Wang employs examples from the well-known novel Wild Swans – Three Daughters of China by migrant writer Jung Chang, to show how such books can represent a rich resource for opening up class discussions around Chinese values and beliefs. The inclusion of migrant literature in the language learning curriculum is advocated as an effective way of increasing learners’ intercultural understanding and sensitivity.

Also dealing with the educational context, ‘Visualizing intercultural literacy: Engaging critically with diversity and migration in the classroom through an image-based approach’, by Evelyn Arizpe, Caroline Bagelman, Alison Devlin, Maureen Farrell & Julie McAdam, reports on the project ‘Journeys from Images to Words’, conducted in Glasgow in two primary schools with a high migrant student population. Drawing on Freire’s critical pedagogy, the project employed a range of visual strategies to help pupils engage more deeply with books that deal with stories of migration, and link them with their own experiences. Reflecting on a particular image of the book, or drawing their own pictures based on the book story and their own migration journeys, helped the children construct meaning from both the text and their own lives, and in turn encouraged intercultural understanding. Thus, creativity was the pedagogical tool they were offered to represent their own knowledge and their experiences of displacement. The project was also instrumental in strengthening connections between school and home.

Narratives of migration are employed by Giovanna Fassetta in ‘The social and symbolic aspects of languages in the narratives of young (prospective) migrants’ to contrast the expectations of Ghanaian children waiting to join their migrant parents in Italy, with the educational experiences of Ghanaian children already living in Italy. The young people in Ghana showed awareness of the linguistic challenges lying ahead of them in the new context, however they appeared to picture migration with overall positive attitudes. Conversely, the Ghanaian children in Italy pointed to the difficulties they had to face in a school system that did not acknowledge their linguistic competence, in particular their knowledge of English. In addition to the emotional problems experienced in the Italian school environment (in spite of some acts of resistance reported by the children), the article highlights the changed connotations of languages that migration brings about. As found in other studies (Guerini Reference Guerini2006), Ghana’s vernacular language, Twi, tends to disappear even from the family site, while Italian and also English are treasured by the parents as linguistic capital, especially in view of a more desirable move to an English-speaking country. In opposing the expectation that migrant children should adapt ‘unilaterally and effortlessly’ (63) to the host country, the article pushes for stronger recognition and support of migrant children’s multilingualism.

In ‘Constructing the “rural other” in post-Soviet Bishkek: “Host” and “migrant” perspectives’, Moya Flynn & Natalya Kosmarskaya also resort to narratives to explore the complexities of the post-Soviet space through the case of the capital of Kyrgyzstan, a city which has maintained a strongly Russified culture, thanks also to the formation of a Russified Kyrgyz urban population. The focus is on internal migration, specifically on the tensions between long-term urban residents and different waves of Kyrgyz migrants. Migration to Bishkek started in the early 1990s, as part of the nationalist movements of the time, originally from the north of the country, subsequently mainly from the south. The creation of new migrant settlements around the city has exacerbated the tension. Long-term urban residents, both the Russified Kyrgyz urban population and the Russians, hold highly negative perceptions of migrants as uncouth and uncultured, lacking in Russian skills and associated with the new settlements, particularly if they come from the south. More diversified are the narratives by migrants, who tend to create boundaries among themselves. The more established migrants who arrived from other cities or with work experiences abroad with cultural and social capital, wanted to disassociate themselves from the image of ‘migrants’. Those coming in the late Soviet period from rural areas and small towns and with little education, found the settlement process more difficult and some of them still feel alien in the urban space and wish to move elsewhere. Interestingly, all these more settled migrants reported experiences of bias towards Southerners, in spite of their elevated status as professional. Furthermore, they all stress the importance of bilingualism, as they consider knowledge of Russian essential to living in Bishkek. Very different is the condition of recent migrants, many of them single mothers, mainly from rural areas and small towns, who are highly affected by the economic crisis. Yet, contrary to the negative picture portrayed of them by long-term residents and more established migrants, recent migrants displayed a strong sense of belonging to their local community, appreciation of their lives in the settlements, and did not report any north–south discrimination. Thus, the most marginalized group disproved the image of migrants as unruly and rough people bringing chaos and violence to the city.

With the last two chapters, the attention shifts to institutional contexts. In ‘The migrant patient, the doctor and the (im)possibility of intercultural communication: Silence, silencing and non-dialogue in an ethnographic context’, Elsa Lechner & Olga Solovova employ the case of Fernanda, a refugee from Cabo Verde living in Lisbon and attending consultations in a psychiatric hospital, to develop an in-depth reflection upon silence – and silencing – as a form of intercultural communication. Fernanda’s brief, routine responses to the psychiatrist did not change throughout the months, nor was she willing to tell her story to the anthropologist (Lechner). Drawing on the notion of silence as an integral part of communication (Basso Reference Basso and Giglioli1972, Jaworski Reference Jaworski1993), the authors unpack Fernanda’s non-dialogue as indicative of the profound asymmetries in the discursive positioning of the participants in the specific institutional setting; namely, the foreigner, refugee, non-native speaker of Portuguese vs. the professional Portuguese nationals (doctor and anthropologist). More broadly, her silence uncovers the historical circumstances underlying their unequal relations as Portuguese nationals vs. Fernanda as a national of a former Portuguese colony in Africa. In this way silence becomes meaningful and is interpreted as ‘the non-enunciation of subjectivity before prevalent forms of power’ (98). In the second part of the article, cross-cultural psychiatry, biographical research and research on memory among migrants and refugees are presented as alternative practices that facilitate intercultural communication in that participants assume and work from such asymmetries. For example, in biographical research, attention is paid to the training of ‘sensitive listening’ as a specific skill anchored in the body that can ‘hear’ the silence and allows to ‘perceive, reflect, dialogue and understand oneself, others and the world’ (107).

The final chapter, ‘Interpretation, translation and intercultural communication in refugee status determination procedures in the UK and France’, by Robert Gibb & Anthony Good, explores the complex role of interpreters in these procedures and some of the dilemmas that arise. The paper brings to the fore a certain naivety about the practice of interpreting that is prevalent in such legal contexts, by comparing and evaluating their code of conduct. In the UK, there appears to be a consistent expectation that interpreters should be ‘exact’ translators, though the term ‘exact’ is not defined. In France, while the Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons does not have a specific code and expects interpreters to ‘translate’, the National Asylum Court (i.e. the forum for appeals) has its own code, which requires that interpreters convey the same broad meaning rather than a literal translation. Interviews conducted in France with interpreters and officers highlighted the problems that such discrepancy may cause. Furthermore, specific norms may be problematic, such as the British requirement that asylum applicants should respond in short phrases, as this can easily make them lose track of what they are saying; or that interpreters should reflect the type of language used by the applicant, which may be difficult if the applicant resorts to excessively colloquial language. In the midst of such uncertainties and discrepancies, it remains a fact that interpreters often have to use their own judgement regarding the extent of their interventions.

Overall, this volume represents an interesting attempt to push disciplinary and theoretical boundaries in intercultural communication, and makes for stimulating reading by its exploration of the role and use of language in diverse settings which, as noted by the editors, ‘are thick with border crossings of many physical and metaphorical kinds’ (5). It is thus a welcome addition to the literature on intercultural communication.