Subjectivity and Ethos in Simultaneous Conference Interpreting – Interpreting Women’s Risks for the International Community at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

Abstract

ABSTRACT War, violence, sexual and sexist abuse are just some of the risks that women face daily worldwide. In this frame, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) rises as a large international forum for discussing women’s risks and advancing policies for the promotion of gender equality. Here interpreting plays a key role. Therefore, it is paramount to examine the discursive, institutional and geopolitical aspects involved in interpreting women’s risks for the international community. This paper proposes an indepth study of interpreted discourse from the perspective of the construction of subjectivity and its related ethos, on matters concerning risk-exposed women. The study aims to identify what risks are communicated and how by analysing the discursive and enunciative practices that materialise subjectivity in English<>Spanish interpreting. The paper uses quantitative and qualitative methodologies to study a corpus of simultaneously interpreted speeches delivered at the opening statements and general debate of the CSW between 2015 (59th session) and 2016 (60th session). The results underscore that, when communicating risks, interpretation relies on enunciative operations that are linked to an institutionalised ethos likely to impact on risk reception.