Asioimistulkkauksen toimijuudet

Authors

• Simo Määttä Helsingin yliopisto
• Tuija Kinnunen Helsingin yliopisto
• Veera Rautavuoma Keski-Suomen tulkkikeskus

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61200/mikael.129506

Keywords:

community interpreting, public service interpreting, agency

Abstract

Public service interpreting is a practice in which different agents collaborate in a wide array of communicative situations. At the same time, these heterogeneous situations are regimented by strict institutional, structural, and professional constraints. Thus, agency, i.e. functional ability based on individual identities and cultural models, materialized through collective activities, is a particularly challenging field of inquiry in such settings. This collaborative paper aims at examining agency in public service interpreting from the perspectives of a researcher specialized in the theory of agency, a public service interpreter who is also a researcher, and the head of a public interpreting service agency. Therefore, the goal is to combine theory and practice and bring together different stakeholders’ points of view. Through this critical examination of the notion of agency, the authors aim at identifying a common ground that could function as a basis for a more cooperative model of agency in this context. The paper originates from a panel organized at the Finnish Symposium on Translation and Interpreting Studies held at the University of Tampere in April 2014.