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Chapter 9. Translating values

Policymakers interpreting interpretation in the 2018 Aquarius refugee ship crisis
  • Esther Monzó-Nebot
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Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power
This chapter is in the book Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power

Abstract

In June 2018, the Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel operating in the Mediterranean Sea, rescued 630 migrants at sea and asked to dock at the nearest port. First Italy and then Malta refused and the dramatic situation of those on board made the news and highlighted the increasingly restrictive nature of European migration policies. Progressive parties in the Valencian regional and Spanish central governments provided the conditions to offer a safe berth and to implement the regional government’s plan to assist refugees in a crisis situation. This chapter will offer an overview of the plan, focusing on its linguistic component, and analyze how translation and interpreting were approached by the policymakers responsible for its inception and development. A distance between the values protected by translation and interpreting professional codes of practice and those that policymakers desire to advance in crisis situations will be evinced as revolving around the role of translation and interpreting in mediating asymmetries.

Abstract

In June 2018, the Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel operating in the Mediterranean Sea, rescued 630 migrants at sea and asked to dock at the nearest port. First Italy and then Malta refused and the dramatic situation of those on board made the news and highlighted the increasingly restrictive nature of European migration policies. Progressive parties in the Valencian regional and Spanish central governments provided the conditions to offer a safe berth and to implement the regional government’s plan to assist refugees in a crisis situation. This chapter will offer an overview of the plan, focusing on its linguistic component, and analyze how translation and interpreting were approached by the policymakers responsible for its inception and development. A distance between the values protected by translation and interpreting professional codes of practice and those that policymakers desire to advance in crisis situations will be evinced as revolving around the role of translation and interpreting in mediating asymmetries.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Contributors ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
  6. Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
  7. Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
  8. Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
  9. Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
  10. Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
  11. Section II. Unveiling the structure
  12. Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
  13. Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
  14. Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
  15. Chapter 9. Translating values 197
  16. Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
  17. Section III. Resisting asymmetries
  18. Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
  19. Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
  20. Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
  21. Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
  22. Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
  23. Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
  24. Index 379
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.157.09mon

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Contributors ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
  6. Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
  7. Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
  8. Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
  9. Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
  10. Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
  11. Section II. Unveiling the structure
  12. Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
  13. Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
  14. Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
  15. Chapter 9. Translating values 197
  16. Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
  17. Section III. Resisting asymmetries
  18. Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
  19. Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
  20. Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
  21. Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
  22. Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
  23. Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
  24. Index 379
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