Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...
Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...
Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...
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Chapter 5 • Giuseppe De Sario, Laura Corradi, Patricia Ruiz, Enrica Capussotti<br />
but most of the time we asked Albanian and Rom translators to help us<br />
speak with our subjects. Language has always been an obstacle and a challenge,<br />
especially for oral historians who use narration and textual analyses,<br />
and who find important insights in the comprehension of written or oral<br />
testimonies. I wish to include the complexity of these languages in my<br />
analysis, and to present it as a sort of microcosm of processes that occur<br />
globally. The difficulties I/we faced in understanding each other are common<br />
to those faced by people of different cultures who meet in their daily<br />
lives. The mediation we used is one that is now common in our societies.<br />
In our analysis, in this maze of ambivalence and potential misunderstanding,<br />
we understood the material through it’s own strong meaning, and<br />
because it spoke from within, recognizable to each participant’s subjectivity<br />
whether he/she be the interviewer, the interviewee or the translator.<br />
The remarks of Ilir, a 25-year-old man who has been living in Italy since<br />
1998, supported this point:<br />
I have understood the questions well but I don't know if I have explained<br />
things well… it could have been better but maybe not… Today I met an<br />
Iraqi boy, he was talking to his sister on the phone and he asked me to<br />
hold the phone while he wrote down the number… then he talked to his<br />
sister in his own language but he said the word “camera” [room] in<br />
Italian… What I want to say is that I’ve started thinking in Italian too, the<br />
way of thinking too has started to be a bit Italian… I don't know, will I<br />
become Italian myself? I don't know…<br />
The mediation of the interpreter must also be considered in terms of the<br />
content he/she decides to transmit. Each translator might use different<br />
strategies, according to his point of view and background. Most of the<br />
time, the translators helped us find willing interviewees and their intervention<br />
was essential in convincing people to talk to us. Despite our<br />
request that the translators remain as close to the words spoken as possible,<br />
we have come to recognize the importance and value of their participation<br />
in the construction of meanings. The translators participated in the<br />
research both before and during the interviews, often suggesting questions,<br />
and showing their commitment to a job they found highly political. Most<br />
of them had been living in Italy for several years, either because of persecution<br />
or because they opposed the nationalistic politics implemented in<br />
Kosovo and Serbia.<br />
With these words, we wish to thank them, but above all to point out the<br />
exceptional values of people who have maintained a strong ethical commitment<br />
to themselves and to others, in a conflict that has otherwise<br />
destroyed the grounds that once held solidarity and reciprocity.<br />
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