Faith-related interpreting as emotional labour: a case study at a Protestant Armenian church in Istanbul

摘要

Emotional labour refers to displaying, eliciting or suppressing emotions in order to meet role expectations in a given context. Typically associated with care work in professional settings, this notion has repercussions for our understanding of community interpreting, especially religious interpreting. The present study discusses faith-related interpreting as emotional labour, highlighting the interpreter's active emotional involvement. Data have been collected through ethnographic methods at a Protestant Armenian church in Istanbul, serving first generation immigrants from Armenia as well as members of the Turkish-Armenian community and ethnic Turkish converts to Christianity. Here, a volunteer interpreter renders the sermon simultaneously from Armenian into Turkish. The interpreting service serves two purposes: to provide a transnational bridge, and to reach out to Turkish-speaking visitors in line with the missionary and evangelizing agenda of the church. The study explores the emotional labour that the interpreter undertakes to these ends, focussing on her strategies of emotional mirroring/amplification during simultaneous interpreting and the wider context of community interpreting, which is an integral part of community services provided in the church.