The project was a collaboration between seven academic institutions (international and UK) and third sector organisations.

The international team of researchers, with their different disciplinary backgrounds, research experiences, language and performance skills, conducted international comparative research on translation and interpretation at different kinds of borders and used the research to develop theory, ethical research practices and research methodologies in relation to multilingual research.

Objectives

This international project built on the groundwork from the Researching Multilingually team (http://researchingmultilingually.com/)

The two main aims were:

1) to research interpreting, translation and multilingual practices in challenging contexts, and,

2) while doing so, to evaluate appropriate research methods (traditional and arts based) and develop theoretical approaches for this type of academic exploration.

Structure

The project had an innovative structure, involving five distinct case studies and two cross-disciplinary integrative “hubs”.  The carefully selected case studies allowed for the documenting, analysing and comparing of translation processes and practices across different kinds of borders and in a variety of geographical settings; the linking of these individual components through the two ‘hubs’ ensured their cross-disciplinary integration.

Our hubs were:

RMTC – Researching Multilingually and Translating Cultures

CATC – Creative Arts and Translating Cultures

Our case studies were:

  1. Translating the Experience of Emotional Distress
  2. Translating Vulnerability and Silence into the Legal Process
  3. Working and Researching Multilingually at State (and European Union) Borders
  4. Multilingual Ecologies in the American Southwest Borderlands
  5. Teaching Arabic to Speakers of Other Languages (TASOL)

The case studies had been carefully selected according to the following criteria:

(i)  Each focused on a border at which under-researched processes and practices of translation and interpretation occurred, ones which brought into question the limits of language and translatability;

(ii)  Each represented a multilingual research site where research would be conducted multilingually using a variety of methods;

(iii)  Each presented opportunities for exploring the theory, methods and ethics of researching multilingually;

(iv)  Each built on previously funded research and specific findings.

For each case study, the methods selected were those appropriate for analysing practices of translation, interpretation and representation in that particular context.

For more information about the outcomes and the specific case studies, please see http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com/