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INTRODUCTION
In racialized America, Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) often describe the space they occupy professionally as the "in-between space," ascribed to the role of interlocutor, and expected to mediate conflicts between groups and ease the operation of institutional goals and policies... Interlocutors are individuals who are 1) involved in a conversation; and 2) within that conversation, they are representing another individual or group of individuals.,. Other sources regard an interlocutor as a neutral, arbitrating party that equally represents two or more parties that may have different perspectives, beliefs, and dispositions. The construct of interlocutor has been used within business, and translation studies, but less so in education. For business, an interlocutor is an individual who is a liaison between the institution's interests and the client who may be doubtful about the product or service a business is marketing. Sometimes referenced as ambassadors or liaisons, the interlocutor attends to the interests and beliefs of the client while simultaneously representing the greater interests of the company. Their role is to understand the client and come to a consensus on what products or services will be best suited to their needs. In the end, the hope is for a business transaction to be made.
In translation studies, a bilingual interpreter works between two parties to convey a source message. The interpreter does not merely transmit a precise message from source message to receiver; rather, the interpreter anticipates how the receiver may conceive a message and adapts their words and expressions accordingly. Oftentimes, such interpretation events take longer as the interpreter anticipates what the source messenger means and how the receiver will conceive that message. The source messenger may be doubtful that the actual message is being sent with precision as such adaptivity involves more time and lengthier descriptions.3 As the source messenger lacks the language proficiency and capacity to understand the message being delivered in a language other than their own, they often must trust the interpreter to convey the message as intended since they do not have full access to the conveyed message.
In these two examples from business and translation studies, an interlocutor is seen as a neutral practitioner. However, in practice, the power disequilibrium that privileges the institutional structures, policies, and goals as the...