Many Voices: Japanese Languages in Canada

Japanese languages have been spoken in Canada since the late 1800s. From nisei nihongo to language schools to the rise of Japanese as a global language, Many Voices: Japanese Languages in Canada explores how Japanese languages have been used through multiple waves of migration, settlement, and displacement. Featuring ethnographic comics by Dr. Ai Taniguchi based on interviews with Japanese Canadians, the exhibit celebrates the breadth of experience with the language amongst the Japanese Canadian community.

The exhibit's companion new media art piece, The Exophonia by Xuan Ye, interrogates the permeability of native and non-native speaker distinctions through the metaphor of a rhizome stemming from linguistic markedness. Check it out here.

Many Voices: Japanese Languages in Canada was developed in partnership the Canadian Language Museum and the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Check out the online exhibition here, featuring comics by Dr. Ai Taniguchi