Date/Time: Thursday 18 May, 16.00 - 17.00

Venue: Research Beehive 2.20

‌Speaker: Caroline CUNILL, Université du Maine, France

As early as the 1560s, official interpreters were appointed in both Ecclesiastic and Civil Courts of colonial Yucatan.

The interpreters obligations covered a wide range of activities, all mentioned in the nominations they received from the Spanish local authorities, which included the Spanish translations of oral testimonies, written petitions, as well as the translation into Yucatecan Maya of legal texts promulgated by the Spanish Crown and its agents.

Interpreters were, therefore, essential actors in the intercultural dialogue that took place in the asymmetrical context of the Spanish Empire.

It is thus not surprising that one of those documents specified not only the linguistic, but also the cultural skills that were required of the future nominee.

Taking into account a wide range of ecclesiastical and civil lawsuits in which interpreters were appointed, this talk will analyze the role of mediation these officials played in sixteenth century Yucatan.

It will highlight that, as the interpreter on the edge of two systems of language and of two systems of thought, the cultural dimension of their translations could often slip into a political one.