Abstract: This seminar presentation presents the findings of two research and engagement projects that, in their different ways, have engaged speakers of Spanish in bilingual or multilingual contexts. Firstly, Lucia Brandi speaks about the people and processes behind Tsikan chu Nipxi’, a trilingual talking children’s storybook featuring text and audio in Spanish, English, and Kgoyom Totonac, a language indigenous to central Mexico. Discussion reflects on the sociolinguistic context in which the text is situated, the translanguaging and transcultural practices of young speakers of Mexican Indigenous Languages (MIL), and the relationship of language policy to linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic well- being. Subsequently, Claire Taylor speaks about the Museum For Me activities that both speakers have been involved in, activities which mobilize the concept of the museum from a creative and participatory perspective. With a particular focus on the experiences of the Latin American diaspora communities in the UK, we propose understanding museums as spaces that can enable critical reflections on the past, on present difficulties and can envisage futures.

Lucia Brandi is Post-Doctoral Research Associate on research translation and follow-on projects for the AHRC-funded project ‘Memory, Victims, and Representation of the Colombian Conflict’. Lucia produced the trilingual children’s audiobook Tsikan Chu Nipxi’ (2014, Mantra Lingua) featuring Kgoyom Totonac as follow-on to her research on cultural minoritisation in Mexico - Tutunakú: Language, Power, and Youth in Central Mexico (forthcoming, Legenda). Claire Taylor is Gilmour Chair of Spanish and Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Liverpool. She is a specialist in Latin American culture, with a particular interest in the literary and cultural genres being developed online by Latin(o) Americans. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics, is co-author of the recent volume Latin American Identity in Online Cultural Production (Routledge, 2012), and author of the monograph Place and Politics in Latin America Digital Culture (Routledge, 2014). She is currently working on an AHRC-funded project focusing on memory, victims and representation of the Colombian conflict.