Translators in War Zones: Ethics under Fire in Iraq

Abstract

Translators play a significant function in negotiating meaning between discursive partners within social and political processes, though their social and interactional status is almost always contingent on more powerful players. The fact that translators may have communication rights granted to or withheld from them in certain social or institutional contexts is itself of considerable interest and perhaps highlights the contradictory esteem in which they are held — objects of both necessary trust yet at the same time deep suspicion. Translators have historically been viewed as ‘prodigal figures’ or returned natives, earning trust or suspicion from the other participants in interpreted exchanges and the wider community; they can also become authority figures, garnering power from their linguistic and cultural understanding of both sides while remaining nonetheless vulnerable (Cronin 2006: 76–82). Whatever their status in any given context, in situations where conflicting agendas arise or where the proper exercise of human or legal rights may be in doubt, translators’ ethical and political judgements become as central to their task as cultural or linguistic competence. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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