Du förstår men du förstår ingenting” [‘You understand but you don’t understand a thing’]: Communityteater, utvisningsbarhet och översättningspolitik Emma Söderman och Anna Lundberg [Community theatre, deportability and the politics of translation]

In the following article, based on two years of participatory ethnographic field-work with the No-border musical, as well as interviews with 16 of the musical’s 30 participants, community theatre is investigated in a context of deportability. We analyse the working process in the theatre group, in which actors with and without resident permits participated, through the concept of politics of translation. We show how inequalities due to the constant threat of deportation for several members, were put to the forefront during the work process of creating the musical. It concerned risks of detection for the undocumented participants as well difficult living conditions related to deportability (for example insecure access to livelihood, healthcare, housing etc.). The article conceptualizes various dimensions of working together in a group where participants live in unequal conditions as a politics of translation. This concept includes the work of language translation, and also captures translations of the different experiences mentioned above, and how different positions of power can be handled and understood, within a group who has the ambition to work together, in this case with a theatrical performance. Our analysis shows how theatre in a context of asylum rights activism can challenge and create alternatives to the conditions of deportability, whilst these simultaneously condition the activism and translation. The article contributes to knowledge about mobilization in the context of vulnerability and inequality. We hope to also contribute to a development of critical social work both within and outside of academia. Med utgångspunkt i två års deltagande etnografiskt arbete med skapandet av föreställningen No Border Musical, samt intervjuer med 16 av dess 30 deltagare[1], undersöks i denna artikel communityteater i ett sammanhang av utvisningsbarhet. Vi analyserar arbetsprocessen i denna teatergrupp i vilken skådespelare med och utan uppehållstillstånd deltog, med hjälp av begreppet översättningspolitik. Vi visar hur ojämlikheter på grund av att delar av ensemblen levde med hot om utvisning villkorade arbetsprocessen. Det handlade dels om risken för att deltagare skulle avslöjas som papperslösa och därmed med stor sannolikhet frihetsberövas och utvisas, dels om de svåra levnadsvillkor som kom av att leva under hot om utvisning. Vidare begreppsliggör vi olika dimensioner av att arbeta tillsammans i en grupp där deltagarna lever under så ojämlika förhållanden