The Palgrave Handbook of Languages and Conflict

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Introduction: The Shock of War

   • Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, Myriam Salama-Carr

   Pages 1-25

3. Conceptual Spaces

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 27-27

      PDF

   2. Good Anthropology, Bad History: America’s Cultural Turn in the War on Terror

      • Patrick Porter

      Pages 29-50

   3. On Encounters and Ethics in the Vietnam War

      • Moira Inghilleri

      Pages 51-71

   4. From the Page to the Battlefield and Back: Translating War

      • Myriam Salama-Carr

      Pages 73-89

   5. Language Policy and War

      • Michael Kelly

      Pages 91-109

4. Source, Documentation and Voices

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111

      PDF

   2. Military History and Translation Studies: Shifting Territories, Uneasy Borders

      • Pekka Kujamäki, Hilary Footitt

      Pages 113-136

   3. Archives and Sources

      • Hilary Footitt

      Pages 137-155

   4. Interviewing for Research on Languages and War

      • Catherine Baker

      Pages 157-179

5. Institutions and Actors

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 181-181

      PDF

   2. Interpreting in Peace and Conflict: Origins, Developing Practices, and Ethics

      • Linda Fitchett

      Pages 183-204

   3. Interpreters at War: Testing Boundaries of Neutrality

      • Fabrizio Gallai

      Pages 205-230

   4. Providing Language Support for NATO Operations: Challenges and Solutions

      • Louise Askew

      Pages 231-249

   5. Translation and Open-Source Intelligence: BBC Monitoring

      • Laura Johnson

      Pages 251-271

   6. Covering Regional Conflicts in Arab News: Political Loyalties and Hate Speech

      • Zahera Harb

      Pages 273-293

   7. Uncompromising Talk, Linguistic Grievance, and Language Policy: Thailand’s Deep South Conflict Zone

      • Joseph Lo Bianco

      Pages 295-330

   8. Translation Institutions: War Crimes Tribunals

      • Ellen Elias-Bursać

      Pages 331-351

6. Languages at War in History

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 353-353

      PDF

This Handbook maps the contours of an exciting and burgeoning interdisciplinary field concerned with the role of language and languages in situations of conflict. It explores conceptual approaches, sources of information that are available, and the institutions and actors that mediate language encounters. It examines case studies of the role that languages have played in specific conflicts, from colonial times through to the Middle East and Africa today. The contributors provide vibrant evidence to challenge the monolingual assumptions that have affected traditional views of war and conflict. They show that languages are woven into every aspect of the making of war and peace, and demonstrate how language shapes public policy and military strategy, setting frameworks and expectations. The Handbook's 22 chapters powerfully illustrate how the encounter between languages is integral to almost all conflicts, to every phase of military operations and to the lived experiences of those on the ground, who meet, work and fight with speakers of other languages. This comprehensive work will appeal to scholars from across the disciplines of linguistics, translation studies, history, and international relations; and provide fresh insights for a broad range of practitioners interested in understanding the role and implications of foreign languages in war.

• Intercultural communication
• Military History
• War literature
• transnational history
• political communication
• public policy
• Language ideology
• Language and power
• language mediation
• language and identity
• War Crimes Tribunal
• diplomacy
• sectarian discourse
• News media
• Colonialism
• Arab Spring
• War on Terror
• The Balkan Wars
• Cold War
• Vietnam War

“This volume is a valuable contribution to the literature on the subject and its inclusion in course curricula as a reference book would be commendable, not only for students of translation and interpreting but also for those in fields dealing with war studies, history, sociology of conflicts or security studies.” (Vedrana Čemerin, LSE Review of Books, blogs.lse.ac.uk, September 30, 2019)

• University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

  Michael Kelly

• University of Reading, Reading, UK

  Hilary Footitt

• University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

  Myriam Salama-Carr

​Michael Kelly is Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Southampton, UK, and Editor of the European Journal of Language Policy. He was co-author of Interpreting the Peace: Peace Operations, Conflict and Language in Bosnia-Herzegovina (2013).

Hilary Footitt is Senior Research Fellow in the University of Reading, UK. She was Principal Investigator for the AHRC project Languages at War, and co-author of WarTalk: Foreign Languages and the British War effort in Europe, 1940-47 (2013).


Myriam Salama-Carr is Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies, University of Manchester, UK. She has published widely in the history of translation and was editor of Translating and Interpreting Conflict (2007).

Policies and ethics