Through a historical lens: contextualizing interpreting research

Emphasis is often placed on new and innovative studies to advance the knowledge of the translation and interpreting field(s). These studies have yet to capture the language brokering, translation, and interpreting activities that took place historically within Deaf communities and still occurs to this day. We contend that by examining early interpreting work undertaken in the Deaf community, interpreting professionals are better able to understand how they have arrived at this point in their history. This examination provides novel insights into Deaf communities’ selection and use of Deaf people as language brokers. We argue that, within a historic paradigm, the emergence of the interpreting profession and how it is embedded within nascent Deaf communities may be more fully understood.