‘A Window on the World(ing) of Geopolitics’: The Oligopticon of Interpretation

This paper applies Latour’s oligopticon to simultaneous interpretation, uncovering how its focused, fragmented perspectives shape multilingual communication as a form of geopolitics. Far from being passive carriers, professional language interpreters are actors in the fragile, partial process of worlding geopolitics. The interpreter’s task is one of constant negotiation—bridging micro- and macro-geopolitical worlds while grappling with the limitations of their position as risky configurators of the geopolitical within the oligopticon. Institutional infrastructures of surveillance and control underpin these interpretation practices. Yet the interpreter’s agency is shaped by a network of human and non-human actors, technologies and organizational norms, all of which contribute to the partial visibility and fragility of the knowledge they produce. By foregrounding the interpreter’s distributed agency, we challenge traditional notions of interpretation as sets of neutral or mechanical acts, instead positioning it as a socially situated and power-sensitive bundle of politically charged practices for the worlding of geopolitics. Within the oligopticon, we identify how power isexperienced by interpreters as situated, narrow and highly precise forms of surveillance, emanaƟng from mulƟple disconnected sources . These include surveillance to limit infracƟons of interpretaƟon by enforcing professional standards; respecƟng client authority; facilitaƟng audience feedback; and ensuring technological oversight, all of which reflect broader power structures in the context of conferences as well as organisaƟonal norms.