Translating migrant Muslim men: strategies of conditional inclusion by Afghan interpreters employed by Western armies

This article investigates refugees' labour to gain inclusion within the 'host' community, drawing on interviews with male Afghan former interpreters employed by Western armies. It makes an empirical contribution by centring them as active agents rather than as passive tropes in the racialised and gendered discourses of the 'War on Terror' and Western migration policies. It offers a synthesis between concepts from three fields: migration as translation, migrant masculinities and the battleground of conditional inclusion. By focusing on migrants' self translations in dialogue with translations of their bodies and stories by host-country institutions, I trace three strategies: insertion, subversion and exemption. While Afghan interpreters largely fail to be recognised as needing protection from harm, their insertion and subversion of discourses of protection based on service are more successful. Finally, they counter their interpellation as dangerous bodies with a strategy of exemption that can be momentarily successful but remains ultimately precarious.

Automated summary

This article investigates the labor of refugees to gain inclusion within the host community by focusing on male Afghan former interpreters employed by Western armies. The study offers an empirical contribution by highlighting their active agency rather than passive tropes in discussions on the War on Terror and Western migration policies. By examining migrants' self translations in dialogue with host-country institutions, the author identifies three strategies: insertion, subversion, and exemption. While Afghan interpreters struggle to be recognized as needing protection, their incorporation and subversion of protection discourses based on their service is more successful. However, their exemption strategy to counter their portrayal as dangerous bodies remains precarious.