Rebecca Tipton: Vietnamese refugee arrivals in Britain
Channel: GIRES-Global Research Institute
Date: 2021-05-27

FULL TITLE: :Vietnamese refugee arrivals in Britain: translation and interpreting in the communication ecology of the camp

Rebecca Tipton, PhD, is a Lecturer in Interpreting and Translation Studies at the University of Manchester. She has published on interpreting in asylum settings, police interviews, conflict zones, and in social work. Her work foregrounds issues of interpreter impartiality, trust, risk and organisational accountability to limited proficiency speaking service users. More recent work has focused on historical aspects of public service interpreting in Britain, and on interpreter mediation for victims of domestic abuse in statutory and non-statutory services.

ABSTRACT
The arrival of thousands of individuals from Vietnam in the late 1970s and early 1980s pressed into service a network of reception centres or camps (often former military barracks) as temporary accommodation. For many arrivals who had spent time in closed camps in Hong Kong after fleeing Vietnam, arrival in Britain marked the end of a long period of physical displacement, though the emotional consequences doubtless endured. These camps can be viewed as the last of the liminal spaces that individuals experienced as they passed through what might be termed chains of humanitarian assistance after leaving Vietnam. They invite scholarly attention as they are spaces where humanitarian and welfare services intersect, and where the process of coming to terms with displacement and a future in a new country with a new language begins. However, they are also spaces of discipline where interactions between new arrivals, camp staff and management are often infused with tension and shaped by the political realities of the world outside. Language and intercultural communication emerge as salient but are seldom included in investigations of refugee experiences of camp life.
This presentation examines translation, interpreting and English language learning provisions in several of the larger camps as part of the wider communication ecology of the camp. Drawing on archival material, I explore (1) written translation as part of the Linguistic Landscape of the camp and as part of identity (re)-formation processes, (2) spoken language interpreting as a so-called technology of care and control, and finally (3) English language learning provisions as a link between humanitarian and welfare services.

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/