oa Chapter 13. What translation and interpreting practices do

The aim of this chapter is to introduce a new theoretical framework for field research in translation studies. The framework is centred around the concept of ‘human differentiation’ (Hirschauer 2017; Dizdar et al. 2021). Drawing on original data gathered during field research carried out at a German reception centre for refugees, the chapter demonstrates and discusses the analytical benefits of adopting the proposed framework. By doing so, it hopes to increase the discipline’s capacity to observe what translation practices do in specific social situations — other than enable communication. The central idea is that translation also creates differences between people and that field research is particularly well suited to investigating how this occurs.

• Affiliations: 1: University of Mainz