Power in Whose Hands?

The article explores issues around power dynamics, exclusion, and boundaries in the British Sign Language (BSL) Bible Translation Project. The issues considered are taken from a series of conversations with Deaf members of the project and explored from a Deaf Liberation perspective using Bourdieusian theories of power. After establishing the need for sign language translation to be undertaken by Deaf people themselves and explaining the methodology, the article focuses on how the power balance and the potential for exclusion are managed in mixed translation teams of Deaf and hearing people, the differing styles of Bible translation, and the boundaries they impose.