A Bourdieusian Perspective on the Public Service Interpreters Working at the Non-Governmental Organizations

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

Due to the Syrian civil war, nearly 3.5 million Syrians have taken refuge in Turkey in the last nine years. Although Syrians and Turks are regionally and culturally close to each other, there is the linguistic difference, leading to communication barriers between them. Public service interpreters are recruited to meet the communication needs in healthcare institutions, especially in provinces with the highest Syrian populations, and in other state institutions and courts. Furthermore, a limited number of non-governmental organizations, such as Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), recruit interpreters. Turkey is a country which has faced flows of refugees only recently, and thus adequate steps regarding immigration policies have not been taken yet in the country. Therefore, public service interpreting for refugees has not developed sufficiently, and the number of well-trained interpreters among those providing service is quite low. In this regard, this study aims to examine the professional trajectory of the interpreters working at ASAM through the interpreters' professional perceptions and the institutional conditions affecting their interpreting activities. More specifically, based on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and illusio, the motives that have driven the interpreters to the job they are engaged in and the forms of capital (un)available to them in their work trajectory will be discussed. To this end, the interviews conducted with the interpreters, the interviews with ASAM officials and the institutional documents are used as data sources in the discussion. Within the frame of the professional trajectory of the interpreters, who have been engaged in NGO interpreting with the motives of using their available cultural and linguistic competence and of helping refugees, the social bonds developed with refugees, albeit in a restricted manner, and their limited authority against other professional groups emerge as the leading issues.