Conceptos básicos matrices, sucursales y agencias

Closely related to the notion of the travelling model is the concept ‘translation’. In simple terms, the idea of translation in this thesis is used to explain the numerous appropriations of a policy model (community policing). Therefore, it is of importance to note that translation is not merely linguistic but refers to anything that takes on different forms (Seres 1982). The recent debate around translation as a concept shows that the key scholars who have written on the sociology of translation are aware of how translation as a concept has become loaded with conceptual complexity (Lendvai 2007). Hence let me mention early on that the use of the translation conceptual framework was done mostly to ‘[shed] new light on implementation, or how policy moves from policy formation to ‘front line practice’ and and vice-versa (Lendvai 2007:10). More importantly, I used translation as a conceptual tool to draw attention to the work of ‘translators’, ‘brokers’ and ‘mediators’ in community policing, especially at the local level. Rottenburg (2008) has contributed immensely to developing the notion of translation and how that links with the issues of travelling of ideas. His writings on translations are linked to Latour’s conceptualisation of the movement of ideas which entails change at every level in numerous directions. Rottenburg also emphasises the maze of changes that comes about when a model is handled by differerent actors in different networks. His discussion of micro- actors and translation processes were very useful for this research project.

Callon (1986:196) argues that ‘translation is a process, never a completed establishment…’. Callon views the ever continous processes of translation revealing what he describes as, ‘displacement’, ‘dislocation’, ‘transformation’ and ‘negotiation’ as different actors in networks of varying sizes engage with each other. This is especially demonstrated in Chapter Nine where I discuss policy making debates with regards to the place of community policing in South Africa.

Herbert-Cheshire (2003), like Callon, also regards translation as a continuous process that changes the ideas that are grappled with at every stage as different actors encounter them. This, therefore, means that translation shows an ever active creative interpretation from different actors involved (Freeman 2004). Freeman’s use of translation, resulting in representing something new or diverse in different places, gives a good conceptual tool with which to explore the translation of community policing across institutions with differing capacities and people with differing strategic choices, goals and interests as they make complex decisions on crime prevention and crime nanagement from the local to the provincial and the national

53

levels. The idea of translation resulting in something new or in diverse meanings, being created in different contexts among different actors, is illustrated in Chapter Six.

Therefore, translation involves displacing something or the act of substitution and it always involves transformation. Seres expands his conceptualisation of translation by stating that whatever is translated, people, knowledge, or things, has an uncertain identity. It follows then that each act of translation changes the translator and what is being translated (Czarniawska and Sevón 2005:9). This insight by Seres on translation offered a way of illuminating the networks of people and organisations in the study site and the different role-players reformulating community policing in national policy in South Africa as discussed in Chapter Nine.

Monaci and Caselli (2005: 56) argue that translation is

a result of a linked set of social and material processes that take place within a network of relations… the metaphor of translation suggests that the production, circulation and sharing of knowledge among socio-cultural contexts should be analysed by investigating how its users change their normative and cognitive attitudes.

I expand Monaci and Caselli’s view to show how users of a model (community policing) also used their normative and cognitive attitudes to translate community policing and how their normative and cognitive attitudes influenced their perceptions of community policing. This is discussed in Chapter Six where I discuss perceptions of community policing.

Latour (1986) provides an insightful argument on how different actors shape and change models and in the process transform the original ideas. Central to Latour’s ideas is that translation occurs in a web of actor networks and those actors are actively involved in shaping, mediating and transforming ideas, claims, objects and interpretations according to their different interests. These are issues that are discussed in Chapter Six where I outline and discuss the ways in which both active and passive residents in community policing perceived community policing and how their roles, be it at the margins of community policing or being active in community policing, had an effect on each other in both direct and indirect ways.

I concur with Callon’s view (1986:224), where he points out that

[the idea of translation makes it possible to give] a description of a complex process which constantly mixes together a variety of … entities. It also permits an explanation of how a few

54

obtain the right to express and to represent the many silent actors of be it a [social, economic or political entity].

By giving candid presentations of resident’s perceptions of community policing and pointing to the issues among the actors in community policing in the three study sites, I drew attention to Callon’s approach and I was able to investigate the issues in this project from the perspective of the active local representatives in community policing. This included how they played their roles in their appointed or assumed roles to represent others, for example in community policing forums or neighbourhood watches. In the process, I brought out the complexity of issues in community policing and the entanglements of community policing with seemingly complex non-security issues in the three places.

Therefore, in Chapter Six, I discuss and analyse how different actors translate the model of community policing in numerous ways according to their different backgrounds. Therefore, the translation concept facilitated the presentation of various ways in which community policing has manifested in Stellenbosch and beyond, but also the changes that have occurred in the model and its form, as well as in the institutions that facilitated the translation of the model across different locations.

The contribution that I make in so far as translation is concerned is that translation also happens from the bottom up. In Chapters Six and Nine I point this out in the discussion of the resistance against the way in which community policing was presented to local people in formal policy and by the police. For instance, they used historical forms of organising themselves in community policing, for example in street committees and in zone committees in Kayamandi. This continuity from the past was also evident in the use of authority by older men in their dealings with the police in Kylemore.

In Czarniawska’s view, translation also means transformation and transference, which for this study refers to the path which the community policing model has taken in different locations. This transformation was made possible by translators through various interpretations. The argument by Czarniawska also illustrates that ‘a thing [that] moved from one place to another may not emerge unchanged: to set something in a new place is to construct it anew’ (Czarniawska 2005:8). This statement illuminates the changes of the community policing models in the different contexts where they exist.

From another angle, Burke (2008) views transfer as another form of translation, but which implies less change. If that is to be taken into consideration, then community policing, taken to different spaces, country

55

to country, locality to locality, introduces a dimension of not just the transfer of a model from one place to another, but adaptation and change as well. Still on the idea of transfer as a form of translation of a model, there may be a non-transfer of meaning of a model but that is not always an indication of failure. Non- transfer of a model may give rise to a new phenomenon or a new model in the local context. On the other hand, rejection of a model means that some kind of translation has taken place (Rottenburg 2008). Therefore, rejection of the community policing model, or conflict because of the model, means that some form of translation has taken place. Burke (2008) refers to ideas, notions and practices that are lost in the course of translation from one place to another or in the web of connections of relationships in institutions and among people as they work with the model. This means there is not only a transfer, but also the transformation of concepts when they arrive in a setting. The discussion of findings in Chapter Six especially shows this idea of change and transformation through the translations of community policing. When presented with a model, for example in the form of policy, people search for the equivalence in their culture as they try to make sense and see to what extent they may use the model.

Besley (2002:18) argues that where there is power, there is also resistance and it is often the case that these resistances are plural, that is they may not be reduced to a single point of rebellion. This insight helps to understand the different perceptions and translations of community policing ranging from being apathetic or indifferent to various degrees of participation. If one accepts interpretive anthropology from Geertz’s perspective, the idea is to interpret and explain the meanings attached to community policing and their responses. In addition, this involves providing a thick description of the social action as people tell their stories and reveal the webs of significance that make the world have meaning in the localities where fieldwork was conducted. This was attempted in the thesis, taking into account the need to create a balance between understanding the processes and events in community policing and analysing them. The concept of translation for this thesis therefore offered a flexible notion to understand and explain the implementation, responses and perceptions of community policing.