Archive | 2019
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Abstract
This chapter starts from the observation that languages have traditionally been invisible in accounts of war and in academic commentaries on conflict. Early attempts to demonstrate their presence have tended to rely on physical manifestations of language mediation, often linked to postwar activities like war crimes trials or peace conferences. Researching the role of languages within war-making involves challenging the archaeology of archives which have usually been established to reflect nation-state histories. The chapter argues that researchers need to see the sites of war as translational spaces within the transnational, setting their investigations on languages within the contexts and chronology of the particular conflict, and embracing an eclecticism of sources which could include elements of material culture and the physical landscapes of war.