1. Home
  2. Vol 3, No 1
  3. Ruiz Rosendo

Interpreting for vulnerable populations: Tracing the role of interpreters in contexts of vulnerability

Lucia Ruiz Rosendo, Conor Martin

Abstract


This contribution serves as the introductory framework for the articles featured in the special issue of Just. Journal of Language Rights and Minorities, Revista de Drets Lingüístics i Minories exploring interpreting for vulnerable populations. Noting the increasing interest in the role of interpreters who work with populations experiencing varying degrees of vulnerability in different settings, this introduction starts by examining some nuanced definitions and causes of vulnerability and the ways in which we are vulnerable to others. The guest editors then focus on language as an important element which can engender vulnerability and consider how interpreters play a pivotal role in mitigating this vulnerability when facilitating access to communication. They discuss how the articles in this special issue address the notion of vulnerability and the complex role of interpreters who work for specific categories of vulnerable populations in different institutional and geographical contexts. The articles describe the elements that interpreters must navigate when managing these challenging situations characterised by high stakes for the vulnerable person and often (highly) asymmetrical power dynamics and dependency.

Keywords


interpreting; vulnerability; vulnerable populations; dependency; language rights

Full Text: PDF

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7203/Just.3.28506

References


Adger, W. Neil. 2006. “Vulnerability.” Global Environmental Change 16: 268–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.02.006.

Atkinson, Jacqueline M. 2007. “Protecting or empowering the vulnerable? Mental illness, communication and the research process.” Research Ethics Review 3 (4): 134–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/174701610700300410.

Bagattini, Alexander. 2019. “Children’s well-being and vulnerability.” Ethics and Social Welfare 13 (3): 211–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2019.1647973.

Barghout, Alma & Lucía Ruiz Rosendo. 2022. "Developing interpreter competence: Training interpreters servicing UN field missions." In Interpreter training in conflict and post-conflict scenarios, edited by Lucía Ruiz Rosendo & Marija Todorova, 63–74. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003230359-7.

Bergunde, Annika & Sonja Pöllabauer. 2019. “Curricular design and implementation of a training course for interpreters in an asylum context.” Translation & Interpreting 11 (1): 1–21. https://doi.org/10.12807/ti.111201.2019.a01.

Bot, Hanneke. 2018. “Interpreting for vulnerable people–Cooperation between professionals.” Current Trends in Translation Teaching and Learning E 5: 47–70.

Boublil, Elodie. 2018. “The ethics of vulnerability and the phenomenology of interdependency.” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 49 (3): 183–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.2018.1434952.

Calgaro, Emma, Nick Craig, Leyla Craig, Dale Dominey-Howes & Julia Allen. 2021. “Silent no more: Identifying and breaking through the barriers that d/Deaf people face in responding to hazards and disasters.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 57: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102156.

Castel, Robert. 1995. Les métamorphoses de la question sociale. Paris: Gallimard. https://doi.org/10.3406/agora.1995.1517.

Delgado Luchner, Carmen & Leïla Kherbiche. 2018. “Without fear or favour? The positionality of ICRC and UNHCR interpreters in the humanitarian field.” Target 30 (3): 408–429. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.17108.del.

Delgado Luchner, Carmen & Leïla Kherbiche. 2019. “Ethics training for humanitarian interpreters working in conflict and post-conflict settings.” Journal of War & Culture Studies 12 (3): 251–267. https://doi.org/10.1080/17526272.2019.1644412.

Fleming, Sarah S. & Stephen P. Osborne. 2019. “The dynamics of co-production in the context of social care personalisation: Testing theory and practice in a Scottish context.” Journal of Social Policy 48 (4): 671–697. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279418000776.

Gallai, Fabrizio. 2019. “Interpreting ethics in fragile environments.” In “Translating and Interpreting in Danger Zones,” edited by Wine Tesseur. Special issue, Journal of War & Culture Studies 12 (3): 220–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/17526272.2019.1644414.

González Campanella, Alejandra. 2023. “'Trauma informs so much of what happens:' interpreting refugee-background clients in Aotearoa New Zealand.” In “Translation in times of crises and conflicts,” edited by Roberto A. Valdeón. Special issue, Perspectives 31 (3): 413–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2022.2098784.

Grubb, Ane & Morten Frederiksen. 2022. “Speaking on behalf of the vulnerable? Voluntary translations of citizen needs to policy in community co-production.” Public Management Review 24 (12): 1894–1913. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2021.1945665.

Haidar, Cherine & Lucía Ruiz Rosendo. 2023. “Negotiating the challenges of producing ethnographic accounts of field missions.” The Translator 29 (2): 231–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2023.2215005.

Hale, Sandra, Natalie Martschuk, Jane Goodman-Delahunty, Mustapha Taibi & Han Xu. 2020. “Interpreting profanity in police interviews.” Multilingua 39 (4): 369–393. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2019-0065.

Inghilleri, Moira. 2003. “Habitus, field and discourse: Interpreting as a socially situated activity.” Target 15 (2): 243–268. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.15.2.03ing.

Kherbiche, Leïla. 2009. "Interprètes de l'ombre et du silence: entre cris et chuchotements (Réflexion sur l'interprétation dans un contexte humanitaire auprès du CICR)." Unpublished MA thesis, University of Geneva.

Kuran, Christian Henrik Alexander, Claudia Morsut, Bjørn Ivar Kruke, Marco Krüger, Lisa Segnestam, Kati Orru, TorOlav Nævestad, Merja Airola, Jaana Keränen, Friedrich Gabel, Sten Hansson & Sten Torpan. 2020. “Vulnerability and vulnerable groups from an intersectionality perspective.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 50: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101826.

Liedo, Belén. 2021. “Vulnerabilidad.” Eunomía. Revista en Cultura de la Legalidad 20: 242–257. https://doi.org/10.20318/eunomia.2021.6074.

Määttä, Simo K. 2015. “Interpreting the discourse of reporting: The case of screening interviews with asylum seekers and police interviews in Finland.” In “Community interpreting,” edited by Aline Remael & Mary Carroll. Special issue, Translation & Interpreting 7 (3): 21–35.

Määttä, Simo K., Eeva Puumala & Riitta Ylikomi. 2021. “Linguistic, psychological and epistemic vulnerability in asylum procedures: An interdisciplinary approach.” Discourse Studies 23 (1): 46–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445620942909.

Mackenzie, Catriona. 2013. "The importance of relational autonomy and capabilities for an ethics of vulnerability." In Vulnerability: New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy, edited by Catriona Mackenzie, Wendy Rogers & Susan Dodds, 33–59. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199316649.003.0002.

Mackenzie, Catriona, Wendy Rogers & Susan Dodds, eds. 2013. Vulnerability: New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199316649.001.0001.

Masschelein, Anneleen, Florian Mussgnug & Jennifer Rushworth, eds. 2021. Mediating vulnerability: Comparative approaches and questions of genre. London: UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1nnwhjt.

Moser-Mercer, Barbara, Somia Qudah, Mona Nabeel Ali Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga & Mohammed Al-Batineh. 2021. “Beyond aid: Sustainable responses to meeting language communication needs in humanitarian contexts.” Interpreting and Society 1 (1): 5–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/27523810211036534.

Radicioni, Maura. 2020. "Cultural differences in interpreter-mediated medical encounters in complex humanitarian settings: The case of Emergency ONG Onlus." In Handbook of research on medical interpreting, edited by Izabel E.T. de V. Souza & Effrossyni Fragkou, 165–187. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-9308-9.ch007.

Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2023. "Interpreting in humanitarian negotiation." In The Routledge handbook of translation, interpreting and conflict, edited by Christophe Declercq & Koen Kerremans. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003207580-12.

Ruiz Rosendo, Lucia, Alma Barghout & Conor H. Martin. 2021. “Interpreting on UN field missions: A training programme.” Interpreter and Translator Trainer 15 (4): 450–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2021.1903736.

Rukmana, Desdén. 2014. "Vulnerable populations." In Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research, edited by Alex C. Michalos, 6989–6992. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3184.

Scully, Jackie L. 2013. "Disability and vulnerability: On bodies, dependence, and power." In Vulnerability: New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy, edited by Catriona Mackenzie, Wendy Rogers & Susan Dodds, 204–221. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199316649.003.0009.

Strokosch, Kirsty & Stephen P. Osborne. 2016. “Asylum seekers and the co-production of public services: Understanding the implications for social inclusion and citizenship.” Journal of Social Policy 45 (4): 673–690. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279416000258.

Sultanić, Indira. 2022. "Interpreting for vulnerable populations. Training and education of interpreters working with refugee children in the United States." In Interpreter training in conflict and post-conflict scenarios, edited by Lucía Ruiz Rosendo & María Todorova, 114–128. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003230359-12.

Todorova, Marija. 2016. “Interpreting conflict mediation in Kosovo and Macedonia.” Linguistica Antverpiensia (15): 227–240. https://doi.org/10.52034/lanstts.v15i.392.

Todorova, Marija. 2017. “Interpreting at the border: «Shuttle interpreting» for the UNHCR.” CLINA 3 (2): 115–129. https://doi.org/10.14201/clina201732115129.

Todorova, Marija. 2019. "Interpreting for refugees: Empathy and activism." In Intercultural crisis communication: Translation, interpreting, and languages in local crises, edited by Federico M. Federici & Christophe Declercq, 153–173. London: Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350097087.ch-008.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). 2022. Global Humanitarian Overview 2022. Geneva: United Nations. https://2022.gho.unocha.org/.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share