Stone, Christopher and Leeson, Lorraine, eds. (2017): Interpreting and the Politics of Recognition. London/New York: Routledge, 162 p.

In our increasingly globalised world driven strongly by homogenising forces, the diversity and significance of “non-literary translation in cultures are drastically underestimated” (Cronin 2003: 2). Published between two triennial conferences of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) focusing on multilingual and multimodal interaction and cultural-mobility, the IATIS Yearbook Interpreting and the Politics of Recognition is a timely contribution that attaches due importance to some “peripheral” interpreting practices, not least, to sign language interpreting, spoken interpreting for ethnic minorities, and non-professional interpreting in historical events as well as in multicultural and political contexts. The collection is the first IATIS volume to focus on interpreting. Championing an inclusive view towards interpreting practices, the two editors unequivocally devote the collection to both spoken and signed modalities of interpreting, with thematic emphases on the historical, ethical and professional aspects of non-mainstream forms of interpreting practices. Their prioritised “minority perspective” is epitomised by the wording of the title – Politics of Recognition – that is, recognition of all forms of interpreting practices, particularly for the deaf and ethnic minority groups, in the “political ecology of translation” (p. xi). The centrality of politics is also seen throughout the chapters where authors investigate the “politics” of interpreting (stakeholder power-relations) and the political consequences of interpreting activities. Unified by the tenet of “inclusiveness” for the realm of interpreting studies, the volume seeks to cover a wide array of topics, reflected in the titles of the parts that comprise it: Political Contexts and Colonialism (Part I), Politics of Ethics and Power (Part II), and Politics of Practice and Representation (Part III). Michael Cronin, in the foreword, foregrounds the significance of this collection by positioning it in a global context of translation ecology, where local particularisms and global uniformity compete, and also mutually reinforce each other, in terms of providing or denying interpreting services. Cronin is vehement in antagonising governmental and political forces for monolingualism, where stringent language policies have been enacted to exclude migrants and minority groups, or to deny them linguistic access, so as to achieve a “hegemonic and unitary notion of identity” (p. x). Against this backdrop, Cronin advances arguments for an inclusive language politics, recognising, primarily, the full significance of sign language interpreting for the deaf community and spoken interpreting for minority groups. The inclusive politics of recognition, for Cronin, emanates from the provision of interpreting services “for all,” to connect with “multiple forms of language, textual and culture practice” (p. xi) and the contextual and situational importance of “translating in situ” (p. xiii). Although the volume lacks an editor’s introduction, Cronin’s foreword offers a penetrating lead-in to the diverse grounds to be covered in the ensuing eight chapters. Binhua Wang and Fang Tang open Part I with Chapter 1 (Interpreting and its politics: Interpreters in the early Sino-British contacts in the eighteenth and nineteenth century). Their historiographical study incisively unearths many little-known facts regarding the roles and functions of a neglected group of “quasi”-interpreters (non-professionals) during this colonial period. Despite the immense obstacles in collecting historical documents that capture the evanescent interpreting practices in the distant past, the authors managed to gain access to rare historical documents from various archives, complemented by the findings of historians. With a focus on four interpreter-mediated events that happened at critical historical points of early Sino-British contact, this chapter depicts the ins-and-outs of the political contexts and of those non-professionals who undertook interpreting tasks, as interpreters on the one hand, and on the other hand, who performed multiple roles or functions, such as, among others, military advisors, messengers, negotiators, magistrates, and even perceived traitors …