ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on interpreters’ visibility, which is defined as the degree to which their existence and actions are noticed, rather than interpreters exercising their agency. Interpreters’ visibility has empowering and disempowering aspects. In hostile settings such as military occupation and violent conflict, interpreters embedded in the party in power may enjoy greater privileges by being visibly associated with that power. The negative consequences of visibility, however, can be extreme, such as being targeted by opposing actors and identified as suspects in war crimes investigations. At British military trials for Japanese war crimes, the accused interpreters defended themselves by arguing that they were wrongly targeted because of their high visibility. They also pointed to the “mistaken impression” some prosecution witnesses held that the interpreter and the interrogator were one and the same. Factors contributing to this perceived authorship of speech are explored with attention to whose utterances the interpreters delivered, how they delivered them and what immediate physical consequences followed. Further analysis from legal and ethical perspectives is needed to more fully understand the implications of embedded interpreters being viewed as part of the military enterprise, enabling its operations which may include abuse and unlawful acts.
