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Aesthetic labor

The interpreter’s burden of ‘looking good’ and ‘sounding right’

 | University of British Columbia
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Abstract
Relying on two series of interviews with interpreters from various sociocultural backgrounds working in a variety of contexts, including conference and community settings in the United States, Belgium, Turkey, Germany, and Canada, this article explores how objectification of the body and interpreting intersect. Drawing on the concept of ‘aesthetic labor’, it examines the lived experiences of female interpreters in terms of appearance requirements imposed on them and argues that the rules and expectations of ‘looking good’ and ‘sounding right’ that interpreters confront at work are heavily gendered, racialized, and reproduce gender and racial inequalities in several ways. This leads not only to devaluation of their profession, but also to marginalization of them as gendered and racialized individuals, affecting the way they perceive their roles. Aesthetic labor provides a unique tool to analyze the embodied aspects of the profession and its body politics, allowing a critical perspective to investigate client–interpreter relations in complex structural positions of power.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The ‘managed’ look and voice: A conceptual overview
  • 3.Parameters of the study
  • 4.Pretty privilege of ‘looking good’ and ‘sounding right’
  • 6.Concluding thoughts
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (52)
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