ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses various ethnographic approaches to translation and establishes their relations to other approaches dealing with cultural representation as well as current translation studies. It also explores the applicability of ethnographic models in translation studies. If translating between cultures, in ethnography as well as in translation, means intercultural interaction, it is of paramount importance to identify the agencies that are active behind this interaction, in historical as well as in contemporary contexts. The function of translation is paramount in the context of a view of cultural pluricentres which seeks to deconstruct the idea of stable cultures bridged with the help of cultural mediators such as translators or ethnographers. The in-between space as the site of the encounter between different cultures becomes particularly relevant in the context of postcolonialism and migration. The adoption of a Third Space based on the concept of 'culture as translation' can thus bring important insights into the evolvement of the translation process.
