Relationships of Learning between Military Personnel and Interpreters in Situations of Violent Conflict

Abstract

This article explores the nature of the learning and learning relationships that emerge between civilian interpreters (most of them recruited locally) and military personnel in situations of violent conflict, with specific reference to the conflict in Iraq. The decision to focus on civilian linguists stems from particular ethical, cultural and professional issues raised by their involvement in such situations and the fact that those issues have yet to be fully explored by the academy. The discussion is premised on the notion of ‘horizontal learning’ according to which learners do not acquire a body of facts about the world, but instead develop understandings of how to ‘be’ in a world in flux. Under such a premise, the concept of ‘teacher’ does not exist and the potential for ‘dual pedagogies’ therefore emerges. The article considers the potential for the development of identifiable inter- and intra-professional communities of practice as a way to foster informed approaches to interpreter-mediated activities and also to serve as a framework for the evaluation and sense-making of interpreter-mediated activities in the field, against the backdrop of the increasing professionalization of conflict in the modern world.

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