Weaving a narrative of translation, activism, and knowledge

• Autor(a) principal: Bravo Cabezas, Valentina Victoria
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/50264
• topic: Tradução; Activismo; Domínio/Área Científica::Humanidades::Outras Humanidades

New technologies are enabling new modes of cooperation, content creation and activism. These changes are affecting the way translation is carried out, and enabling its practitioners to collaborate remotely and contribute to humanitarian causes in new ways. In order to explore the opportunities and challenges that emerge from this fast-evolving landscape, this dissertation focuses on Translators without Borders, TWB, as a case study. This NGO offers translation support for humanitarian agencies around the world and relies on the work of volunteers to fulfil its mission. Using the case study as a starting point, the dissertation discusses contemporary translation theory about volunteering and crowdsourcing, TWB’s relationship to its volunteers and other NGOs, and the ways in which the organisation implements crowdsourcing and online collaboration to carry out its work. This analysis reveals the fundamental role of narratives in securing volunteer participation, and the ethical issues and conflicts of interest which underlie TWB. The fact that volunteers continue to participate and support this organisation can serve to illustrate their perception regarding these issues. TWB’s crowdsourcing practices, which are essential to its work model, are further blurring the line between professional and non-professional translators. However, they are also a way of harnessing the potential of a workforce that is disseminated around the world. TWB’s collaboration with other organisations based on volunteer work is a testament to the ubiquity of this model of content creation, and of the emphasis placed on technology—and the lack of monetary value ascribed to the translators themselves. The analysis also reveals the potential of these new work models to tackle problems of epistemic injustice and the problematic vertical relations between providers and recipients of humanitarian aid. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in order to make sense of the current technological landscape and the ways in which it affects the development of translation, activism, and digital content creation.