TY - JOUR

T1 - Translation as a cultural tool for mediating conflict in queer and feminist grassroots democratic coalitions in Denmark, Germany and Sweden

AU - Doerr, Nicole

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - In this article, I present the findings of a three-year qualitative research project studying feminist and queer activist groups that support refugees in Denmark, Germany and Sweden. My findings show how multilingual activists volunteered as linguistic interpreters to enable inclusive dialogue between refugees and host-country citizens in joint grassroots democratic coalition meetings. Based on interviews with different groups, I show that their linguistic-broker position gave these activists the leverage to challenge and bring to the attention of white-majority citizens the exclusionary dynamics of structural inequality and civic-status hierarchies that create tensions within supposedly open and inclusive joint meetings. By highlighting the critical, counter-hegemonic positionality of activist-translators in coalitions working on gender, the central contribution of my case study is to connect theories of translation and conflict mediation in transnational social movements with research that focuses on the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in intersectional coalitions.

AB - In this article, I present the findings of a three-year qualitative research project studying feminist and queer activist groups that support refugees in Denmark, Germany and Sweden. My findings show how multilingual activists volunteered as linguistic interpreters to enable inclusive dialogue between refugees and host-country citizens in joint grassroots democratic coalition meetings. Based on interviews with different groups, I show that their linguistic-broker position gave these activists the leverage to challenge and bring to the attention of white-majority citizens the exclusionary dynamics of structural inequality and civic-status hierarchies that create tensions within supposedly open and inclusive joint meetings. By highlighting the critical, counter-hegemonic positionality of activist-translators in coalitions working on gender, the central contribution of my case study is to connect theories of translation and conflict mediation in transnational social movements with research that focuses on the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in intersectional coalitions.

U2 - 10.1332/25151088Y2023D000000008

DO - 10.1332/25151088Y2023D000000008

M3 - Journal article

VL - 7

SP - 45

EP - 64

JO - European Journal of Politics and Gender

JF - European Journal of Politics and Gender

SN - 2515-1088

IS - 1

ER -