Interpreting and Social Change beyond Civil Society:

the case of Babels at the cross-roads between the Alter-Globalisation Movement

and the Interpreting Community

Julie BoériUniversity of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

CTIS Seminar Series

University of Manchester07 of October 2010

OBJECTIVES

Case study of Babels: social change in civil society

Beyond the case study: social change in the profession, scholarship and society

OUTLINE Babels, the Social Forum and the Alter-

Globalisation Movement Activist interpreting in human & social

sciences Civil society contexts: inherent tensions Why a narrative approach? Babels case study: main findings Engagement in research, in the profession

and in society: last developments

The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among Humankind and between it and the Earth. Article 1 of the Porto Alegre Charter of Principles

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

To be an international network of volunteer interpreters and translators who want to use their skills and expertise for the benefit of those social and citizens’ movements that adhere to the charter of principles of the Social Forums; and to permit the sharing of their analyses and experiences and to co-ordination their actions at an international level. Babels Charter

Babels is a network of volunteer interpreters and translators. It was born from the process of the Social Forums, experimental meeting spaces for movements and organisations from different countries and regions. Without interlinguistic and intercultural communication these spaces could not exist. About us

Outside of Translation Studies, translation and interpreting are neglectedPostcolonialism: rhetoric of resistance outstrips the power of social change that T/I have at their disposal

ACTIVIST T/I IN HUMAN & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Conference Interpreting versus Community Interpreting

Focus on textual intervention, within the realm of mediation

The Social Forum: envisioning social change

Is the Social Forum a space for a plurality of movements to communicate ?

Is it a movement that struggles against corporate-led globalisation ?

Deliberation vs Struggle

Participation vs Representation

Process vs Event

Is the organisation of the Social Forum open to its participants ?

Is it reserved to a minority who decide for the others ?

Is the Social Forum a Process to innovate and experience alternatives ?Is it a series of conference events ?

Social Forum = deliberative space and participative process

Social Forum = event for a unitary and representative struggle

Horizontality

vs

Verticality

Babels = political Actor

Interpreting = constitutive of the Social Forum

Babels = facilitator of communication

Interpreting = solidarity towards socio-political issues

Tensions between Principles and Practices

NATURE OF THE TENSIONS

Diversity of organisational principles within the open space

Dynamics of Resistance and Co-optation

Pressures on Babels to both implement politics and deliver logistics

WHY A NARRATIVE APPROACH? refers to concrete sets of events and relationships

between events and protagonists in a given spatial and temporal configuration, and as such makes sense of our lives, of that of our communities and orients behaviour and judgement.

makes it feasible to focus on individual positionings and the ways in which they shape institutional positions, without the individual being fully subsumed by the institution.

constitutes an inescapable prism through which we understand and co-construct the world, which discard objectivity.

BABELS CASE STUDY

Methodology

Babels’ narrative: recurrent themes- Scope of involvement- Financial structure- Decision making processes

The re-narration of Babels in the profession

BABELS’ SCOPE OF INVOLVEMENT Florence ESF: organicity to the Social Forum Paris ESF: autonomy from the Social Forum Ethical concerns:- Potential overlap with professional market

vs- Efficiency of social change, solidarity, liberation

through volunteer work

Personal narratives vs institutional positioning

Result: maintain autonomy but guarantees

BABELS’ FINANCIAL STRUCTURE Florence ESF: organicity to the Social Forum Paris ESF: autonomy from the Social Forum

- Logistics: efficiency of delivering of interpreting

vs- Politics: patterns of formalisation instead of experimentation

Brussels meeting (2004): organicity to the Social Forum fundraising but no engagement with structure

Practice since then: full organicity in terms of fundraising and structure

BABELS’ DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES

Issue of Autonomy vs. Accountability

Autonomy: emancipation from power hierarchies, experimentation

Mechanisms of accountability: Babels-France: green light group

Evolvement of a project-based structure (autonomy)

combined with a permanent structure (Babels Protocols) with establishment of consensus decision making processes.

RE-NARRATING BABELS

Peter Naumann’s letter Debate on the AIIC online forum

Naumann, Peter (2005) “Babels and Nomad – Observations on the Barbarising of communication at the 2005 World Social Forum”, in Communicate! http://aiic.net/ViewPage.cfm/page1800.htm

2 communicative purposes:

Convince the Social Forum not to resort to Babels Undermine Babels image

Challenging theSocial Forum narrative

Resorting to Babels reproduce the commodification of conference interpreting

The 5th World Social Forum = repetition of conference interpreting history

The Social Forum should hire the best interpreters of the old generation

Conference interpreters = neutral and objective

Conference interpreters are subordinated to speakers

Interpreters can only be assessed according to their competence

Moral values and beliefs are dangerous

Challenging theBabels narrative

Incommensurability of Narratives Commitment to

participation and horizontality

- Horizontal world- Collective participation

of and knowledge sharing among individuals from different backgrounds

Commitment to expertise and rationality

- Expertise-based hierarchical world

- Standards of competence, neutrality, working conditions

The debate on AIIC e-forumAt the core of the professional

community

Babels is re-narrated as Amateurish

Immoral

irrational

At the margins of the professional community

AIIC is re-narrated as Elitist

Undemocratic

Conformist

Negotiation from within vs. re-narration from outside

Reconciliation of Babels’ stance on volunteer activist interpreting with efficient and rational organisation of interpreting: desirability of the compromise?

SOCIAL CHANGE BEYOND CIVIL SOCIETY

Social Change in the profession: from deontology to ethics

Social Change in scholarship: from market to society

Social Change in the profession: from deontology to ethics

Neutrality / deontology Kahane’s critique of AIIC’s neglect of society and rigidity Members of the profession call’s for democratising the

professional community, so far monopolised by an elite that serves the interests of an elite (closed sponsorship system, monopol of the market)

De Manuel’s call for going beyond the fragmentation of interpreting into conference, community, ad hoc, professional forms of interpreting

Be more reflexive on the ethics of interpreting for civil society

Social Change in scholarship: from market to society

1st International Forum on Translation/Interpreting and Social Activism

Granada Declaration: - T/I as a tool of both resistance and dominance- knowledge at the service society- linguistic diversity in the field and beyond- inclusive and mutually supportive community of T/I

Training methodology and Curriculum Design: influence of the socio-critical paradigm so as to train skilled professionals but also educate reflexive professionals and citizens