Court Interpretation, or Ganas Goes Legit

Abstract

This chapter recounts how “Ganas” went from a brief conversation and makeshift practice to an established structure in which students could ground their education. It is still hard to pin down, however, for its only permanent ethos is to serve its members, mostly consisting of Latino migrant workers and successive generations of Bennington undergraduates, which means instead that it is reinvented on a yearly basis, at the very least. Of late, it has come to include a course on court interpretation, prompted by immediate need and informed by interactions with the National Center for State Courts, a task force of experts led by the Vermont Office of the Court Administrator, and The Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education. Its continued relevance is sadly all too obvious, although I can but hope that one day its services will no longer be required.