Institutions translated: discourse, identity and power in institutional mediation

Abstract

The relationship between translation and institutions is an intricate and multifaceted one, whether the institutions for which translators work are organisations within local or national environments or supranational/international establishments. Because institutions are associated with the mechanisms of social order governing the behaviour of its members and are social constructions constituted through discourse, there is a powerful tendency for translation carried out on behalf of institutions to fulfil a gatekeeping role. Yet, recent research findings increasingly suggest that the translator's subordination to institutional pressures is not a given, and even in cases where the institutional order clearly underpins individual translators' actions and decisions, as well as work modes and procedures, translation practices in institutions are far from uniform. The authors contributing to this special issue explore a number of relevant issues across a range of institutional settings through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. It is contended that enhancing our understanding of translation as a socially situated act entails systematically probing and densely contextualising the role of institutions in influencing and shaping how translation is conceptualised and practiced, how the translator's role and identity are ascribed and negotiated, and how complex text trajectories and intertextual chains are formed.