Interpreting in Asylum Procedures - (Translation, Interpreting and Social Justice in a Globalised) by Hassan Mizori (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book presents dialogist interpretation as an innovative method for examining interpreter-mediated encounters within asylum procedures, uncovering hidden layers of meaning by engaging with participants' internal dialogues. It offers practical recommendations and calls for asylum reforms to enhance fairness and communicative equity.

Book Synopsis

This book introduces dialogist interpretation as an innovative approach within interpreting studies, offering a critical examination of interpreter-mediated asylum encounters. Based on a case study of a legal consultation in the Netherlands, the book reveals how internal dialogues, linguistic assumptions, institutional constraints and systemic biases influence credibility assessments and shape asylum narratives. Drawing on the author's experience as a researcher, interpreter and former asylum seeker, this study examines the power dynamics between interpreters, legal professionals, asylum seekers and the institutional structures governing legal procedures. Through detailed textual analysis and reflective interviews, it demonstrates the active role interpreters play and offers a new paradigm for understanding and improving asylum procedures. Challenging dominant narratives and calling for systemic change, this book offers practical recommendations for interpreters, educators, legal professionals and policymakers as well as essential insights for scholars in interpreting studies, law and communication.

Review Quotes

Hassan Mizori's Interpreting in Asylum Procedures: Dialogist Interpretation is a groundbreaking exploration of communication in high-stakes legal contexts. Through an innovative application of dialogism, Mizori illuminates the often-overlooked complexities of interpreter-mediated encounters, offering profound insights that challenge conventional practices and advocate for more just and effective asylum procedures.

-- "Fabrizio Gallai, IULM University - Milan, Italy"

This book has an inspiring and promising message for everyone involved in communicatively complex encounters like interpreter-mediated asylum interviews. Put simply: case workers, lawyers, interpreters and other professionals can improve their performance by learning more about the dialogic, collaborative, and exchange-focused nature of human sense making.-- "Cecilia Wadensjö, Stockholm University, Sweden"

About the Author

Hassan Mizori is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Leeds, UK. With over 20 years of experience as an interpreter and linguist, he has taught translation at the University of Leeds and the University of Manchester and co-edited both the Oxford Arabic Dictionary and the Nederlands-Arabisch Dictionary (published by Radboud University Nijmegen). His research focuses on interpreter-mediated communication in asylum settings, particularly through dialogist interpretation. Adopting a multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach, he critically examines challenges in asylum procedures and explores pathways for reform.