Translation And Violent Conflict

First Published in 2010. Translators and interpreters are frequently found at the centre of attempts to wage war or negotiate peace between opposing factions. Translation and interpreting also serve a vital function in communicating a conflict locally and globally, as interested parties attempt to legitimize their actions, appeal for assistance, and enlist support for their cause and the condemnation of their stated enemy. The unavoidable independent exercises of judgement that interpreters and translators make through their participation in or re-narration of a conflict, and the decisions that go with them, provide clear and strong evidence for the lead role in the construction of meanings and identities that interpreters and translators assume in situations of conflict, irrespective of their historical or geopolitical setting. This special issue of The Translator explores the role of translators and interpreters in a number of conflicts from the 20th century to the present. Drawing on fictional and non-fictional texts, legal and peacekeeping settings and reports from war zones, contributors to this volume explore the overlapping themes of mediation, agency and ethics in relation to translators and interpreters as they negotiate the political, social, cultural, linguistic and ethical factors that converge, often dangerously, in situations of armed conflict

Translation and Conflict was the first book to demonstrate that translators and interpreters participate in circulating as well as resisting the narratives that create the intellectual and moral environment for violent conflict and social tensions. Drawing on narrative theory and with numerous examples from historical and current contexts of conflict, Mona Baker provides an original and coherent model of analysis that pays equal attention to the circulation of narratives in translation and to questions of dominance and resistance. With a new preface by Sue-Ann Harding, Translation and Conflict is more than ever the essential text for any student or researcher interested in the study of translation and social movements.

Introducing narrative theory -- A typology of narrative -- Understanding how narratives work: features of narrativity I -- Understanding how narratives work: features of narrativity II -- Framing narratives in translation -- Assessing narratives: the narrative paradigm.

This edited book examines the role of interpreting in conflict situations, bringing together studies from different international and intercultural contexts, with contributions from military personnel, humanitarian interpreters and activists as well as academics. The authors use case studies to compare relevant notions of interpreting in conflict-related scenarios such as: the positionality of the interpreter, the ethical, emotional and security implications of their work, the specific training needed to carry out work for military and humanitarian organizations, and the relations of power created between the different stakeholders. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of translation and interpreting, conflict and peace studies, as well as conflict resolution and management.

Mona Baker is one of the leading figures in the development of translation studies as an academic discipline. This book brings together fifteen of her most influential articles, carefully selected and grouped under three main topics that represent her most enduring contributions to the field: corpus-based translation studies, translation as renarration and translators in society. These applications and approaches have been widely adopted by translation scholars around the globe. The first section showcases Baker’s pioneering work in introducing corpus linguistics methodologies to the field of translation studies, which established one of the fastest growing subfields in the discipline. The second section focuses on her application of narrative theory and the notion of framing to the study of translation and interpreting, and her contribution to demonstrating the various ways in which translators and interpreters intervene in the negotiation of social and political reality. The third and final section discusses the role of translators and interpreters as social and political activists who use their linguistic skills to empower voices made invisible by the global power of English and the politics of language. Tracing key moments in the development of translation studies as a discipline, and with a general introduction by Theo Hermans and section introductions by other scholars contextualising the work, this is essential reading for translation studies scholars, researchers and advanced students.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book raises new questions and provides different perspectives on the roles, responsibilities, ethics and protection of interpreters in war while investigating the substance and agents of Japanese war crimes and legal aspects of interpreters’ taking part in war crimes. Informed by studies on interpreter ethics in conflict, historical studies of Japanese war crimes and legal discussion on individual liability in war crimes, Takeda provides a detailed description and analysis of the 39 interpreter defendants and interpreters as witnesses of war crimes at British military trials against the Japanese in the aftermath of the Pacific War, and tackles ethical and legal issues of various risks faced by interpreters in violent conflict. The book first discusses the backgrounds, recruitment and wartime activities of the accused interpreters at British military trials in addition to the charges they faced, the defence arguments and the verdicts they received at the trials, with attention to why so many of the accused were Taiwanese and foreign-born Japanese. Takeda provides a contextualized discussion, focusing on the Japanese military’s specific linguistic needs in its occupied areas in Southeast Asia and the attributes of interpreters who could meet such needs. In the theoretical examination of the issues that emerge, the focus is placed on interpreters’ proximity to danger, visibility and perceived authorship of speech, legal responsibility in war crimes and ethical issues in testifying as eyewitnesses of criminal acts in violent hostilities. Takeda critically examines prior literature on the roles of interpreters in conflict and ethical concerns such as interpreter neutrality and confidentiality, drawing on legal discussion of the ineffectiveness of the superior orders defence and modes of individual liability in war crimes. The book seeks to promote intersectoral discussion on how interpreters can be protected from exposure to manifestly unlawful acts such as torture.

This interdisciplinary edited collection establishes a new dialogue between translation, conflict and memory studies focusing on fictional texts, reports from war zones and audiovisual representations of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco Dictatorship. It explores the significant role of translation in transmitting a recent past that continues to resonate within current debates on how to memorialize this inconclusive historical episode. The volume combines a detailed analysis of well-known authors such as Langston Hughes and John Dos Passos, with an investigation into the challenges found in translating novels such as The Group by Mary McCarthy (considered a threat to the policies established by the dictatorial regime), and includes more recent works such as El tiempo entre costuras by María Dueñas. Further, it examines the reception of the translations and whether the narratives cross over effectively in various contexts. In doing so it provides an analysis of the landscape of the Spanish conflict and dictatorship in translation that allows for an intergenerational and transcultural dialogue. It will appeal to students and scholars of translation, history, literature and cultural studies.

Translation and Conflict demonstrates that translators and interpreters participate in circulating as well as resisting the narratives that create the intellectual and moral environment for violent conflict. Drawing on narrative theory and using numerous examples from historical and contemporary conflicts, the author provides an original and coherent model of analysis that pays equal attention to micro and macro aspects of the circulation of narratives in translation, to translation and interpreting, and to questions of dominance and resistance. The study is particularly significant at this juncture of history, with the increased interest in the positioning of translators in politically sensitive contexts, the growing concern with translators’ and interpreters’ divided loyalties in settings such as Guantanamo, Iraq, Kosovo, and other arenas of conflict, and the emergence of several activist communities of translators and interpreters with highly politicized agendas of their own, including Babels, Translators for Peace, Tlaxcala and ECOS. Including further reading suggestions at the end of each chapter, Translation and Conflict will be of interest to students of translation, intercultural studies and sociology as well as the reader interested in the study of social and political movements.