Translation, interpreting and the British humanitarian response to asylum seeker and refugee arrivals since the 1940s

This project explores the strategic importance of translation and interpreting in the early reception and resettlement phases of selected groups of asylum seekers and refugees in England since the 1940s, with specific reference to non-state actors. It seeks to investigate the overall question of how limited language proficiency has been accommodated in services, against the backdrop of increasingly 'technologised' humanitarian activity and changes in attitude to migration and linguistic diversity over the period. Specifically it will 1) investigate the relationship between the government and selected charities in supporting linguistically and culturally diverse groups of refugees and asylum seekers since the 1940s; 2) trace the development of language provisions by indigenous and community-based groups; 3) explore attitudinal shifts to linguistic diversity in government and civil society discourse, and 4) elicit personal and organisational experiences of language provisions in two city-based case studies.

The project traces the evolution of public service translation and interpreting in Britain and is anchored around the processes of what theorists of cultural studies term 'articulation' (Slack 1996). This is understood as the ways in which a state reaches out to others to encourage particular types of social engagement in return. As refugee and asylum movements have accelerated and become 'superdiverse' (Vertovec 2007), and communities have settled, processes of articulation have also evolved, warranting attention to the role played by translation and interpreting therein.

Interconnections between humanitarian action, non-state actors and articulation are foregrounded in this project in ways that complement research in translation studies, urban multilingualism and the emerging field of non-state humanitarianism. The project's multidisciplinary team will conduct a set of case studies over the two-year project, and a corpus-based analysis of policy, parliamentary and media discourses. It promotes an epistemological approach based on recent research on urban multilingualism in which language provisions are evaluated in ways that are anchored around local communities of practice and accumulated knowledge and experience, with the communicative event at the centre (Gaiser and Matras 2017).

The first set of case studies is designed to bring to prominence the ways in which selected voluntary sector organisations handled linguistic and cultural diversity in relation to the reception and resettlement of individuals caught up in major refugee events since the 1940s. Archival research at the national archives will yield insight into the principles that underpinned organizational approaches, complemented by research at selected local historical archives to explore practices on the ground in reception centres and camps.

A second set of city-based case studies (Leicester and Liverpool) will shed light on the ways in which language provisions emerged at the municipal level, and the networks of community associations that grew organically to complement 'top down' provisions and/or develop independent sources of support. Leicester has been selected due to the role it played in accommodating new arrivals from Uganda in the early 1970s and Liverpool for its connection to Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and 1980s. The linguistic heterogeneity of the communities in both cases is of particular interest to this project since it will focus attention on the level of flexibility at the local level to respond to need.

The two-year project will lead to a series of traditional academic outputs of benefit to a range of academic disciplines and include a symposium, website resources, oral history testimonies and journal articles. The project will also engage with non-academic beneficiaries through workshops and events that are co-organised with refugee community groups, charities, and supplementary schools.

The project will benefit a range of academic and non-academic beneficiaries. In addition to impact through traditional academic routes of dissemination (peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and preparation for a monograph subsequent to the project), other types of impact are described here.

A) Not-for-profit organisations and supporting bodies (such as the Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Activity) that engage in and organise events that would benefit from drawing on the findings of the case studies. Particular benefits derive from project insights into partnership work with government agencies in asylum and refugee services, the practical organisation of language support and understanding the impact of practice on individuals and communities. By collaborating with such organisations and building on the project team members' work in this sector, the dissemination work will promote greater understanding within the sector of the differences between volunteer and professional language support services, and the need for strategic planning of such services to meet multilingual service needs. Many assume that language support provisions are a relatively new phenomenon and that speaking two languages automatically leads to effective translation practice. Historical perspectives will support better understanding of how attitudes to multilingualism have evolved and how language support services can support organisational response to the safety and security of vulnerable individuals.

B) Community initiatives that seek to raise cultural awareness and promote heritage language maintenance to later generations of migrants. In this regard, the project will contribute to the range of activities offered to supplementary schools through the Multilingual Manchester initiative. Specifically, the second case study will be the springboard for engagement with the Vietnamese Community Association in Manchester that runs a supplementary school. The project will support the development of a template and resources (made available through the project website) for initiatives in other similar schools in Manchester and beyond, through which students will learn about translation and interpreting. It will generate potential for students to develop skills that will support future intercultural interactions and employability.

C) The general public will be interested in the findings of the case studies as they will help to demystify the nature of multilingualism and language support provisions. Access to information will be provided through the project website for this purpose. Additionally, a small exhibition at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre, Manchester, will run from May-August 2020. This will help inform the public about the role of translation and interpreting, challenging the many myths that are present in public discourses about what their purpose is.

D) Trainee language services professionals will benefit from the case studies and project website as these will support understanding of the role of the statutory and voluntary sector in handling matters concerning asylum and refugee reception and resettlement. For trainees (current and recent graduates in translation studies), the opportunity to attend the proposed workshops will support meaningful engagement with the statutory and voluntary sector. Relatedly, current MA students will be actively involved (at no cost to the project) in developing project materials and contributing to the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre's website. Links to other training programmes will build on the PI's recent role as visiting lecturer to the University of Graz, highlighting the relevance of the project findings for understanding multilingual practice in non-state humanitarian activity in Austria.