The Role of “Translation” in Confirming the Authority of WHO in the Global Health Scene at the time of COVID-19: An Actor-Network Approach

نوع المستند : المقالة الأصلية

المؤلف

قسم اللغة الإنجليزية وآدابها، كلية الآداب، جامعة عين شمس

المستخلص

The work of the WHO on addressing global health issues, specifically Covid-19 pandemic, can best be analyzed using the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) framework, which enables the disaggregation of the different actors in the process and of understanding the shifting associations among the various elements (human and otherwise). This research explores the position of translation/ interpretation in the nexus of technical, normative, policy-oriented transactions of the textual, audiovisual, and graphic production of the leading global organization on health issues. Among language professionals outsourced or fully employed by the WHO are scores of translators and interpreters involved in the process and in the production of this large corpus on health and medical issues and on intergovernmental internal communication in different languages. The aim is to investigate how translators/ interpreters interact in such transactions, the shifts their work experience due new technical and technological innovations, the role they play in making complex scientific ideas accessible (or not?). Moreover, in examining such associations, the paper reflects on the narrative of seamless production of knowledge on important health issues in the six official languages of the UN as a declared goal by the WHO.

الكلمات الرئيسية