Call for Papers: Translating Conflict

Full title of the edited collection: Translating Conflict: Ethics and Ideology in Public Service Interpreting and Translation
As the 21st century advances, Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT) services are increasingly positioned at the service of conflict resolution in different contexts, while at the same time being locked in their own struggle for professional recognition. Building on the 5th International Conference in Public Service Interpreting and Translation held at the University of Alcalá, Madrid, in April 2014: (Re-) visiting Ethics and Ideology in Situations of Conflict, this Collection addresses themes of conflict, conflict resolution, reparation and social justice at the domestic and international levels.
At the domestic level, the Collection seeks to illuminate emerging challenges for PSIT in statutory and non-statutory services generated by violent conflict, population displacement and migration, inter alia, gender violence, workplace conflicts, education inequality, human rights violations, and mental health trauma, as located in their respective social and historical contexts.
At the international level, contributions will explore conflict in relation to translation and interpreting in refugee camps and war crimes tribunals, among others. Both contexts raise questions as to the nature of the ethical and ideological frameworks within which interpreters and translators operate, the extent to which they shape such frameworks, and the role of states and institutions in acknowledging and responding to human need and human rights, against a backdrop of
shifting political, social and legal landscapes.
We invite submissions of abstracts (300 words) that explore the evolving nature of ethics and ideology in conflict situations and their implications for PSIT service organization, perception and delivery. In particular, the Collection seeks to promote research involving inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional approaches in order to appeal to communities of public service interpreting and translation communities of research and practice, and key stakeholders in policy development. Contributions are invited with reference – but not limited – to the following themes:

  • The role of supranational organizations (such as the institutions of the European Union) in shaping the ethical and ideological context of PSIT services
  • Ethics and the moral accountability of PSITs in conflict situations
  • Equality legislation and the positioning of PSIT
  • Historical perspectives on PSIT and developments in ideology and migration
  • The role of PSIT in community integration policies
  • PSIT in contexts of gender violence and human trafficking
  • NGOs (domestic and international) and the role of PSIT in the reception and resettlement of displaced persons in refugee camps and beyond
  • PSIT in prison and community rehabilitation services
  • PSIT and survivors of conflict: mental health services
  • PSIT in socio-educational contexts


Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2014
Notification of acceptance: 31 October 2014
Deadline for submission of manuscripts for peer review: 31 March 2015
Publication (by an international, well known publishing house): 2016
Please send your 300-word abstract and details of your affiliation to: psitcollection@gmail.com
With a copy to the editors: Carmen Valero-Garcés: carmen.valero@uah.es  and Rebecca Tipton: rebecca.tipton@manchester.ac.uk