Robert F. Barsky

The Interpreter as Intercultural Agent in Convention Refugee Hearings

AbstractInterpreters in the legal domain, especially those involved in the Convention refugee hearing process, perform a variety of intercultural functions. The manner in which these functions are carried out determines the success of the communication process in terms of the acceptance or rejection of a given refugee’s claim. On the basis of interviews conducted as part of a research project designed to establish what motivates a Convention refugee to choose one host country rather than another, this paper sets out to provide a description of the functions performed by interpreters in the context of refugee hearings. Examples are offered to elaborate the range and complexity of intercultural mediation in these hearings, as well as the obvious deficiencies of the present legal system in terms of its limited utilization of the vast resources offered by interpreters.

From Discretion to Fictional Law

Illegal migrants receive really mixed messages; they stay here and work, and they do the jobs that nobody else wants to do, and they do what their employers tell them to do so that their employee records will make them appear legal. So all of these people are looking the other way, even though their employers know that they are undocumented. This creates a sense amongst illegal migrants that maybe they are sort of legal. So on the one hand, people are afraid all the time because they are illegal; on the other hand, it’s hard not to get this mixed message. There is real injustice in the way that the system plays out, because it works in an arbitrary and sometimes really targeted way, and people can sense that injustice. — lawyer interviewed in Nashville TN, 2005

Making Love with [Bakhtin]

T liere is so little time for lovemaking. And too much time in between. I have set off in search of effective distraction in the hope of clarifying the concepts of productive relations as described in “Art and Answerability” ancl in “Author ancl Hero in Aesthetic Activity,’’ liere in a sinall room bordering upon the crowded street, by I)oarding a flight of fancy through Rakhtin’s texts to Dostoevsky’s Robok, via unarticulated reference to Joyce’s Ulysses. These texts are before me now ancl, as my eyes inove from one to the nvxt, it occurs to me that, during periods of heightened sensitivity, they produce similar effects upon my mind and h o d y . I feel my skin Iiiirning and can veritably sense my blood coursing through my veins. But do I ? As I rill) m y hands over m y own b o d y , I wonder, “How do we experience our own exterior?’’ (Art and Atzswera6ility 2 7 , hereafter A & A ) . Why does it feel so different to experience m y own caress, on the one hand, and to feel yours, on tlie other? Why am I l)irt a “soul slave,” incapa1)le of producing b y m y own existence something that is “prodi~ctive ancl enricliing” (AA for “my seeing . . . cannot come to the aid of thinking by providing it with an adequate image” (AA for even a photograph “provides no more than the material for collation” (A&A 34). Any photograph is “fortuitous, artificially received,” mere “raw material, completely incapable of being incorporated i b

Chomsky, Noam (1928–)

This article offers an overview of Noam Chomskys contributions to linguistics, as well as the multiple fields that are impacted by his approach, including psychology, philosophy, computer sciences, communications, political studies, neuroscience, and behavioral sciences. The emphasis is placed upon his early formative years, the milieus from which he emerges and to which he contributes, and the general attitude that drives his work, right up to the current moment.

Troubled Quests: An Introduction to AmeriQuests in an Era of "Illegals"

After a period of time when it was associated with the Vanderbilt University Center for the Americas, AmeriQuests’ own quest has taken a turn back to its original status, as an independent on-line journal offering a range of work relating to the many quests to “america” or the Americas. The journal will keep its name, its web address, its on-line format, and it will continue to be hosted by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt University. For the future, AmeriQuests will turn to a very flexible format, featuring peer-reviewed articles which serve the interests of academic authors in particular, but other sections of the journal have been opened-up for solicited articles, book reviews, opinion pieces, and student contributions. Given the subject of the journal, we will also promote regular creative contributions in the form of poetry, short stories, photographs, reproductions – indeed any form of media supported by the open journal format. And given the urgency of certain issues, -for example: current discussions on making a first illegal entry (or overstay of a visa) in the US a felony, shifting political horizons in Latin America, on-going issues of security and border control, and so forth, -we will promote a rapid turnaround on topical articles / notes / reviews to ensure that the journal engages appropriately with the current context. To meet these many requirements and ambitions, the Board of Editors of AmeriQuests has been deepened and broadened, to offer the kind of expertises required to meet the growing obligations and possibilities of this endeavor. And to expand the viability and pertinence of the work published in the journal, we will also accept and publish submissions on an on-going basis; as soon as pieces are ready for publication they will be posted to the on-going issue, which means that we’ll take full advantage of a publishing system that isn’t encumbered by the lengthy process of “setting type,” or moving from the screen to the page. Once issues are complete, there may also exist the possibility of producing limited print runs, depending upon funding sources available for particular topics. I urge you as readers to propose works for publication, or projects which may find value in the form of on-line access through the journal. For example, we will accept proposals for special issues, which may include conference proceedings or collections of work which pertain to the kinds of subjects the journal encompasses. Two such collections are forthcoming, one on the “Quests Beyond the Ivory Tower,” and a second on the “Quest for Workplace Equality;” we hope that this will be but the beginning of a whole array of useful publishing and discussion.

Residues of the 1930s

The following is a discussion of Patrick Deane, ed., History in Our Hands: A Critical Anthology of Writings on Literature, Culture and Politics from the 1930s (London & New York: Leicester University Press, 1998); Martin Jay, Cultural Semantics: