Narrating narratives of migration through translation, interpreting and the media

Rather than providing a unifying framework for its diverse theoretical and methodological applications, this paper attempts to explore the territory of narrative by tracking the routes of a number of germinal core-constructs that have spread across disciplines and fields of activity. Taking migration and migration policy models as our “air-view map”, the first leg of the journey follows along the paths of multiculturalism, interculturality and transculturality, discussing the socio-political implications of these conceptual approaches and their repercussions on the provision of translation and interpreting services. Subsequently, the epistemological construct of narrative is observed from the vantage point of socio-narrative theory as applied to translation and interpreting studies, with a specific focus on the identity-contruction dynamics that emerge when mediating migrants’ personal stories that clash with public (institutionally acceptable) narratives. Wandering through the theoretical domains of positioning, voice, empathy and media cross-genre recontextualization practices, the paper ends with one of the many possible narratives of the collection of papers in this volume.