This book analyses the translation policies and practices of
international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), engaging in
critical questions around the ways in which translation can redress
power dynamics between INGOs and the people they work with, and the role
of activist researchers in contributing to these debates.
The volume examines the duality of translation and interpreting in
INGOs, traditionally undervalued and under-resourced while
simultaneously acknowledged as a powerful tool in ensuring these
organisations work according to their own values of equal access to
information, dialogue, and political representation. Drawing on over ten
years of ethnographic fieldwork and interview data with a wide variety
of INGOs, Tesseur offers unique insights into if and how INGOs plan for
translation and interpreting needs while also critically reflecting on
her own experience and the ways in which activist researchers like her
can ensure social justice efforts are fully reflected in their own
working practices. Encouraging a new interdisciplinary research agenda,
the volume seeks to raise the profile of language and translation in
humanitarian and development contexts and cross-disciplinary dialogue in
scholarship on these issues.
The book will be of interest to scholars in translation and interpreting
studies, sociolinguistics, development studies, and international
relations.