Imagining the communicative space: languages and intervention in crisis zones December 5, 2012

Venue/Location: Maxwell Building Room 813
Event type: Public Lectures
Description:

The latest in the series of Translating and Interpreting Studies Seminars from the University’s School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences.

Prof Hilary Footitt

University of Reading

Abstract

In Afghanistan, the British army had ‘Hearts and Minds’ flyers, with pictograms showing soldiers rebuilding Afghan houses and schools: ‘If we could even get someone to talk to us, let alone give them a flyer, it would have been a miracle’ (Captain Doug Spencer: War Story exhibition, Imperial War Museum, London).

This paper explores the place of languages within the cultural imaginary of Western groups which intervene in international crisis zones – both military forces, and humanitarian agencies/NGOs.

The paper will look firstly at the ‘cultural turn’ in US and European militaries, and the ways in which this frames the communicative space. It will then study the cultural frameworks of NGO deployment, and the understanding of ‘the other’ which these embody. The paper will argue that, whilst these two discourses (that of the military, and that of NGOs) seem very different, on the ground of intervention they develop a strikingly similar communicative geography.

Attending to the linguistic spaces of crisis intervention, the paper will conclude, has implications for interveners, intervened, and processes of intercommunication.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

The contact for this event is Professor Myriam Salama-Carr: [email protected]

Official Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/home-page/events/events/imagining-the-communicative-space-languages-and-intervention-in-crisis-zones