Dr Elisabeth Möckli-Dr Chelsea Sambells:The Politics of Translation in Humanitarian Relief Projects.
Channel: GIRES-Global Research Institute
Date: 2021-05-27

FULL TITLE: The Politics of Translation in Humanitarian Relief Projects: A Case Study of the Swiss Child Evacuations during the Second World War.

Dr Elisabeth Möckli is a teaching fellow at the University of Geneva and the University of Fribourg. Her research interest lies with the translation of political discourse in historical contexts. She is co-investigator on the SNSF-funded research project Humanitarian Action and Translation at the University of Geneva which explores multilingual practices and policies within Swiss child evacuations during the Second World War.

Dr Chelsea Sambells is a Lecturer and Research Fellow in Modern European History at the University of Huddersfield and Head of Research at the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre. She is co-investigator on a project at the, Humanitarian Action and Translation, which explores the role of Swiss translation and language policies within European child evacuations during the Second World War. Her research and policy work chiefly studies how governments and NGOs have treated refugees and children during war, including experiences of displacement and resettlement.

ABSTRACT
Humanitarian relief is often organised and delivered within multilingual contexts that require linguistic competence. Charities subsequently develop their own language practices to ensure efficiency and impartiality. This paper will explore the strategic use of language within the wartime humanitarian operations between the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) and Swiss government, which oversaw the evacuation of thousands of European children to Swiss borders.
In June 1942, a major speech to Switzerland’s parliament about these child evacuations became the focus of heated, internal governmental discussions, whereby Swiss politicians – who were not employed as translators – argued that the political sensitivity of the speech required their interference in its translation and dissemination to national audiences.
This paper will study documents from the Swiss Federal Archives to explore how government officials supplanted their own internal translation policies, and the wishes of a major humanitarian organisation, to reshape Switzerland’s national image. By doing so, this paper will argue that although the role of translation became heightened, the established language policies within Swiss federal institutions and the SRC were sacrificed in view of the political concerns about how these humanitarian evacuations would be perceived by neighbouring belligerents.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION
"Humanitarian Organizations: (Hi)Stories, Impact and Challenges"
Organizer: GIRES-Global Institute for Research Education & Scholarship  
Date: 20-21 February 2021
Place: Amsterdam (Virtual)
More information: https://www.gires.org/activities/conferences/humanitarian-organizations-histories-impact-and-challenges/