On the Frontline: Mediating Across Languages and Cultures in Peacekeeping Operations

• Author: Maria Clementina Persaud,Lucía Ruiz Rosendo
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X18755108
• Published date: 01 July 2019
• Date: 01 July 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

On the Frontline:

Mediating Across

Languages and Cultures

in Peacekeeping

Operations

Lucı

´a Ruiz Rosendo

1

and Maria Clementina Persaud

2

Abstract

This study explores the issue of interpreters’ positionality as outsiders to the forces’

personnel and insiders to the local communities. Twenty local interpreters who

worked in the different peacekeeping operations (PKOs) in the Bosnian War, and

seven members of the forces’ personnel were surveyed on their personal and

professional background, their experiences with working conditions and training as

well as the particularities and challenges of PKOs. The results indicate that the

status, motivations, hiring procedures, and working conditions of the interpreters

changed under the different PKOs, and that this had an impact on the positionality of

the interpreter. The findings suggest that specific training programs are needed to

better train interpreters to work in PKOs, and that consideration should be given to

the issue of how to better train peacekeeping forces to work with interpreters.

Keywords

interpreting, peacekeeping operations (PKOs), Bosnian War, positionality, training

1

Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, Interpreting Department, University of Geneva, Geneva,

Switzerland

2

Department of Philology and Translation, University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain

Corresponding Author:

Lucı

´a Ruiz Rosendo, Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, Interpret ing Department, University of

Geneva, Geneva 1205, Switzerland.

Email: lucia.ruiz@unige.ch

Armed Forces & Society

2019, Vol. 45(3) 472-490

ªThe Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X18755108

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Conflict between parties with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds is per-

vasive in human history and has always involved interpreters in the role of inter-

cultural and linguistic mediators (Ruiz Rosendo & Persaud, 2016). Although

interpreting became highly professionalized in the second half of the 20th century

after the Nuremberg trials, with the inception of the first interpreting schools and the

creation of the International Association of Conference Inte rpreters (AIIC), lan-

guage brokering in armed conflicts continued to be, and still is, an unregulated

occupation mainly pursued by untrained interpreters. Furthermore, there is a lack

of recognition of the specific role played by interpreters in conflict situations. These

two factors, in turn, lead to a lack of professionalization and training that negatively

impacts a prospective improvement in the recognition of the interpreter, and this

vicious circle jeopardizes the quality of the interpreting service offered. This could

then have an impact on the development of the conflict. At the end of the day, it is

interpreters who facilitate communication between the forces’ personnel and the

local populations and between the forces’ personnel and the local authorities.

This article presents the findings of an exploratory study that analyzes the posi-

tionality of the interpreter in different peacekeeping operations (PKOs) in Bosnia,

1

and the relationship between this positionality and appropriate mechanisms of selec-

tion and training to help improve the effectiveness of PKOs. The aim of the article is

to reach an understanding of both the idiosyncrasies, working conditions, difficul-

ties, and challenges encountered when working as an interpreter in a PKO, and the

expectations of the users of interpreting services, in order to inform the design of

specific training schemes. It can be argued that the positionality of the interpreter

changed over the course of the different operations that were carried out during the

conflict, and that the mechanisms of selection and training were more mature in the

later stages. The findings of the study indicate that training in different domains

should be provided for interpreters who work in PKOs, and that it is also important to

train the PKO forces in how to work with interpreters who come from a different

culture.

Framing the Context

There is a direct relationship between the practice of interpreting and the context or

environment in which it occurs (Inghilleri, 2003), so, in order to analyze the role of

interpreters, one has to first of all describe the specific context in which they work.

According to Goulding (1993, p. 453), “peacekeeping is a technique which has been

developed, mainly by the United Nations (UN), to help control and resolve armed

conflicts.” It is not a monolithic process but rather a dynamic one (Fortna, 2008;

Ruggeri, Gizelis, & Dorussen, 2012), in that the mandate of the mission or its

strength can be revised to respond to emergent crises. Today peacekeeping is not

only provided by the UN but also by other international bodies such as NATO and

the European Union to prevent, moderate and end the hostilities between or within

states (Bas¸ar, Sig

˘ri, & Caforio, 2014) and to help local actors overcome mistrust

Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 473