The Political in the Voice and the Gaze of the Field Researcher/Interpreter

In my paper I start from a comparison between interpreting and fieldwork. My focus is on the actors, i.e. the interpreters and the field researchers – on the influence and impact of their voice and gaze, on their roles, functions, actions and behaviours. My starting point is an aporetic situation that relates to any manifestation of translation and interpreting and that is a generic characteristic of translation: On the one hand, translation is expected to pretend that it is not secondary but original. On the other hand, the stigma of an auxiliary tool is attached to any translation – an instrument that is supposed to function as unnoticed, interference-free and transparently as possible, allowing the original to shine through. My aim is to outline a framework for a politics of interpreting in which interpreters act as performers in the space of the As-If and interpreting is seen as a performative political act. This understanding of the politics of interpreting is based on the conception of any translational act and especially of any interpreting as a ‘performance’. Factors such as neutrality, professionalism, power, fear and discomfort in interpreters/field researchers, which are often assigned to the field of ethics, are read as characteristics of the politics of interpreting/field research.