ICOR Series with Isabelle Chen

Translingual Borders: Refugee Testimony and the Politics of Translation Isabelle Chen, assistant professor of global French studies, will challenge the assumption that translation is a liberatory practice — one that enables people to cross linguistic, cultural and geographic borders — by examining how translation can also reinforce borders, reproduce unequal power dynamics and constrain individual agency. Focusing on Shumona Sinha’s novel Assommons les pauvres! ( Down with the Poor! ), Dr. Chen’s talk explores the experiences of a Bengali interpreter working with asylum seekers in France. She examines how Sinha uses translation both as a literary strategy and a central thematic motif to portray interpretation as a potential barrier to human mobility and freedom. Drawing on translation theory and recent migration data, Dr. Chen considers what literary representations of translation can reveal about its real-world consequences — and about the roles of multilingualism, interpretation and language in immigration policy and advocacy today.