The student group Lingua promotes intercultural communication and language exchange on UMSL’s campus. With extended language courses and majors, and many foreign exchange students, UMSL hosts a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Claire Nesky, the president of Lingua, spoke to the group’s purpose:
“The work that we do on campus is great. It just makes so many more people feel welcomed, especially the international students, because it gives them a kind of familiarity.”
This ideal was represented in this month’s event, Beauty in Languages, which took place on March 3, in Clark Hall. This open mic event encouraged speakers of second languages at all skill levels to read poems aloud, first in the language they are learning and then in English. Professors, staff and students all brought poems with a range of topics and tones. Those fluent in their other languages read alongside those beginning to learn, creating a sense of belonging and inclusion.
An open approach to the arts is something common across cultures. President Nesky brought a piece by the poet Yves Bonnefoy, which she read in both French and English. When discussing it with me, she emphasized the role of the art form in the culture in which the poet was raised. She said, “I think for at least French culture, it’s really important, especially in the education system, for students to be able to recite poetry and to be able to analyze it.”
To teach poems, with no expectation of technical skill or talent, is to encourage lifelong engagement with the art form. It is a medium of value that deserves great importance. The translation of President Nesky’s poem, which describes the process of post-war rebuilding, is rich with in-depth meaning.
She reflected, “I feel like being able to resort to art and poetry in that way is really supportive, especially when you can see it from other cultural perspectives.”
In times of large-scale struggles, there is emotion within people looking for a place to go. Art can be that place for many across cultures. Open mics and public readings, like Lingua’s event Beauty in Languages, continue to provide channels for expression from people of all backgrounds.
