Interpreting as Humanitarian Action in Complex Migration Settings

This article investigates interpreting and cultural mediation as socially embedded humanitarian action within the Italian non-governmental organisation (NGO) Emergency ONG Onlus. Drawing on a qualitative case study conducted for a doctoral dissertation on the practices of the organisation’s Cultural Mediators at its outpatient clinic in Castel Volturno, southern Italy, the study analyses how participants perform and negotiate their roles in complex humanitarian and multicultural environments. Based on semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observation, and documentary evidence, the findings reveal that Cultural Mediators operate not merely as linguistic intermediaries but as cultural brokers, health educators, and frontline aid providers who bridge structural inequalities and facilitate migrants’ access to healthcare. Their multiple functions coalesce around a shared objective: safeguarding the right to health for all patients. The article argues that interpreting and cultural mediation constitute multidimensional forms of humanitarian aid, embedded in both communicative and moral agency, and integral to the fulfilment of the NGO’s mandate, thereby contributing to recent scholarship that recognises interpreters as active agents in society and humanitarian response. It further contends that these practices should be understood within the broader goals of humanitarian organisations, with significant implications for training, ethics, and the development of interpreting and cultural mediation capacity.