OUT OF THE DOMINANT POLITICAL AGENDA: TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING NETWORKS FOR SOCIAL ACTIVISM

Abstract

Assuming that Translation and Interpretation (T/I) are never
politically neutral “bridge-building” practices, we can consider
them as political activities —either explicitly or implicitly—
especially in those contexts marked by social conflict, where the
implication for professional practice should compel necessarily an
ethical commitment from translators/interpreters.
From that point of view, this paper deals with the social
movements, groups, communities, and networks that support T/I
practice from social justice, humanitarian, and mostly volunteer
organizations (such as ECOS, Babel, Tlaxcala, Translators Without
Borders, Translators for Peace, Translators and Interpreters Peace
Network, and so on), acting outside the dominant political agenda
as a form of social activism. We will study the way participation in

T/I as volunteering impacts the professional practice, the role that
those T/I communities of resistance have played in social
activism, as well as the potential of T/I in social change, political
activism, and the politics of immigration and asylum.