Editorial

Abstract

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). It gives me great pleasure to write the editorial of the first issue of Interpreting and Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal and to introduce this much-needed initiative in my capacity as Consultant Editor. Had we been launching such an important publication under normal circumstances, it would have been an added pleasure to be physically present to share a celebratory drink with long-time colleagues and friends, and to meet some of the many young scholars whose cutting-edge research on interpreting as a social phenomenon will no doubt revolutionise the discipline in the coming years. Above all, Interpreting and Society is envisaged as a platform for showcasing such innovative and socially relevant research, especially given the dearth of journals that specialise in interpreting and growing evidence of the fact that scholarly output in this field is fast outstripping the space that can be provided by existing journals. In the absence of a safe physical space in which to celebrate this new initiative with friends and colleagues at the time of COVID-19, then, let me say a few words about the urgency and relevance of the journal through the less interactive medium of writing. Interpreting and Society sets out to situate interpreting within the social and political fabric of everyday life, as a phenomenon that takes diverse forms and pervades interaction in settings as varied as refugee camps, international and pan-national conferences, sports events, religious sermons, hospital wards, war crimes tribunals, and social movement gatherings, among many others. What is common to all these different modes and settings in which interpreting takes place, as I argued in the past, is that they locate the interpreter within a social and political dynamic that requires socially relevant research to engage with issues such as power, distance, face-threats, and socio-textual practices (Mason, 1999). In the two decades or so since I highlighted the need for such research, much has of course changed, and the number of studies that address these issues has multiplied. More importantly, some of these studies have also succeeded in revisiting traditional research topics—including issues of cognition, research methods, and the impact of technology on professional practice—from a critical perspective that demonstrates awareness of the nature of interpreting as Editorial