News
Call for Papers: SLIANZ Conference, 6-7 July 2019, Wellington NZ
February 25, 2019
The SLIANZ Conference Committee 2019 invites interpreters, Deaf community members,
researchers, practi-searchers, policy makers and other stakeholders to submit abstracts for its
annual conference. The theme is Interpreting Role-Call: Taking stock in a changing world.
SLIANZ has chosen this conference theme to examine the role(s) of the sign language interpreter
from the various perspectives of Deaf people, hearing people, and interpreters; to explore some of
the complexities that challenge traditional ideas of the role; and to consider these perspectives and
complexities in today’s policy context.
Since beginning in the mid-1980s, the sign language interpreting field in New Zealand has
experienced many changes. Training has shifted from within Deaf clubs to universities; the increased
participation of Deaf people in society and education have changed the domains and the ways in
which interpreters work; and the relationship between interpreters and the Deaf community
continues to be redefined. Over the last 35 years, theoretical understandings of the professional
interpreter role have evolved and continue to be reconsidered by interpreter researchers,
practitioners and by Deaf communities across the globe. This conference is an opportunity for the
New Zealand interpreting profession and the communities that it serves to come together for an
open dialogue about our respective roles within interpreted interaction.