Abstract

The notion of ‘mediation’ has been used in dialogue interpreting research to address those features of the interpreting work which were not easily explainable in terms of translation proper, including adaptation in language and cultural perspectives (Pöchhacker 2008). The word ‘mediation’ however comes from studies on conflict mediation and includes the idea of managing disputes, an activity that is not part of dialogue interpreting. The choice made by some public services, particularly in Italian health care, to employ ‘intercultural mediators’ for their interpreting activities has further contributed to give extra meaning to the notion of mediation in interpreting, now increasingly conveying that mediating means addressing different, and potentially conflictive, cultural features and perspectives. In this paper we get back to the idea of mediation, as intended in conflict mediation, and compare mediation practices found in interactional studies of dispute resolutions (by Garcia 1995; 2019) with practices used by intercultural mediators providing interpreting service in Italian healthcare institutions. We analyse a selection of 400 mediator-interpreted encounters in women’s health with North and West African women speaking respectively Maghrebin Arabic and English as a second language. Our findings suggest that practices used in dispute resolutions and healthcare interpreting do have features in common and that these features do not have to do with emerging conflict (cultural or otherwise), rather with facilitating talk between parties.

Keywords: healthcare, mediation, interaction, conversational practices, conversation analysis, cultural features, talk facilitation

About the author(s)

Laura Gavioli is Professor of English language and translation at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, where she teaches in BA, MA and PhD courses. Her research work includes the study of spoken language in institutional settings and cross-cultural pragmatics in intercultural/multicultural settings. She has been engaged in research exploring authentic data of interpreter-mediated conversations involving speakers (not necessarily native-speakers) of English and Italian, mainly in healthcare services. Together with Claudio Baraldi, she edited the volume Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting (Benjamins, 2012) and a special issue of Health Communication (36/9 2021). With Cecilia Wadensjö, she has co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Public Service Interpreting published in 2023.

Claudio Baraldi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Together with Laura Gavioli, he carried out lengthy exploration of intercultural and interlinguistic mediation in institutional settings -- mainly healthcare and more recently parent-teacher talk in educational settings. Another important research interest concerns the analysis of methods and techniques for dialogic facilitation of participation in education and health care. He has written several papers in international books and journals, he has published volumes for Palgrave and Springer and he has edited and co-edited international volumes for Bloomsbury, John Benjamins, Palgrave, Routledge and Sage.

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