ABSTRACT
This chapter chronicles the development of research on interpreting to date.
Highlighting the crucial role of professionalization in the emergence of this field of
study, this historical sketch briefly reviews the professional underpinnings of the
discipline and then traces its evolution from profession-based writings to theory-
based research, with special emphasis on the sociology of the field and its academic
infrastructure. Thus the ‘making’ and the ‘make-up’ of interpreting studies will be
profiled in response to questions like ‘who?’, ‘when?’ and ‘where?’.
