Critical Approaches to Institutional Translation and Interpreting

Book excerpt: This collection re-envisions the academic study of institutional translation and interpreting (ITI), uncovering the ways in which institutional practices have inhibited knowledge creation and encouraging stakeholders to continue to challenge the assumptions and epistemics which underpin the field. ITI is broadly conceived here as translation and interpreting delivered in or for specific organizations and institutional social systems, spanning national, supranational, and international organizations as well as financial markers, universities, and national courts. This volume is organized around three sections, which collectively interrogate the knower – the field itself – to engage in questions around “how we know what we know” in ITI and how institutions have contributed to or hindered the social practice of knowledge creation in ITI studies. The first section challenges the paths which have led to current epistemologies of ignorance while the second turns the critical lens on specific institutional practices. The final section explores specific proposals to challenge existing epistemologies by broadening the scope of ITI studies. Giving a platform to perspectives which have been historically marginalized within ITI studies and new paths to continue challenging dominant assumptions, this book will appeal to scholars and policymakers in translation and interpreting studies.