Dive Into the Ecosystem: Awa Diagne Lô
Meet Awa Diagne Lô, polyglot co-founder of the Translation Lab in the DSL, who encourages us to "be aware of the responsibility to speak, or to stay silent, and how powerful that choice is."
“There are so many forces pulling people apart, fragmenting communities, societies, and cultures. So if anyone has the capacity to build bridges, especially communication bridges, I think they should.”
Please introduce yourself and introduce yourself what you do with LifeCode.
First of all, thank you for inviting me to do this interview. I'm very happy to talk about the Translation Lab because it's a micro-lab and it’s one of the newest micro-labs in the LifeCode/DSL ecosystem. It's always hard to introduce oneself. My name is Awa Diagne Lô. I was born and raised in Senegal, but I also consider myself a citizen of the world because of my upbringing, and because I also half spent half of my adult life in various countries. I am a conference interpreter and a translator for French, English, and Wolof. I'm also the founder of Teranga Language Solutions, a boutique agency offering interpretation, translation, subtitling, and related language services.
And within LifeCode, I'm one of the members of the Translation Lab, which is under the DSL. Our current team is Afua Quarshie (Lab Manager, working on Twi), Chenise Calhoun (Swahili), and I (Wolof).
How did you become involved with LifeCode?
We started discussing a while back. Actually, the way I joined LifeCode and the DSL is a little bit unconventional. I teach languages too on the side, and I used to be the Wolof teacher of Chenise. During our discussions in class, she said, "Oh yeah, I'm part of these ecosystems of labs, and I think you'd be a very interesting person to join." Some of the things they do touch on translation, but she also knew a little bit about my background and interest in languages and social sciences.
So that's how it started. Then I joined officially in, I think, fall 2024. I was able to chat with Dr. Johnson. I still remember that conversation. Since I had not been in academia for a while, I think it was a really good re-introduction to the world of academia, which can feel gate-kept and a little bit impenetrable if you're not part of the circle. I remember Dr. Johnson being really, really nice and also the flexibility we were given in participating in what we’re drawn to. So yeah, that's how I initially joined.
Then I learned there would be a Translation Lab, and I was like, "Oh, that's perfect," because I always wanted to delve a little bit more into the practices and the ethics of translation. And I think it's awesome I get to do it with other people researching in our lab. Fatima, who used to be in our lab, is a PhD student in literature. We have Chenise doing French Studies, Afua doing history, and myself coming from the practice of translation. So I think it's a nice composition. We can get inputs from many disciplines and work toward a common goal. I could talk about it for a long time, but that's what I would say for now.
Well, I will say the next question is to tell me about your lab or projects, so feel free to keep talking about it [laughs].
Yeah, so as I said, it's a pretty new lab, and we took our time finding our footing because I guess that's how every idea starts, right? In the beginning, translation is a big enterprise, and it's also something considered by almost every discipline. What's the meaning of things? How do we convey a message? What is the weight of those words? So those are big questions. I think we were caught in that at the beginning and thinking, “Oh my God, what are we going to translate? What is the point of the Translation Lab? Who is our audience, where are we going to host the translations we do, and what are our ethics and practices?” So we had a lot of big questions.
It was really nice of Afua to give us that space to think. I remember us having a conversation with Dr. Johnson, and she was like, “Yeah, don't stress about these things. It’s about doing something and doing what you think is right here and that could contribute to the ecosystem in general.” So when we came back from the gathering in Louisiana, which I can tell you more about later, we approached it more slowly. Instead of thinking about the end goal, we said, “Okay, let’s just select a piece of translation.” At that time, I think it was a video of Ousmane Sembène where he was talking about Europe and Africa and their relationship, and he utters that famous sentence, “I am the sun.” We were really caught by that sentence.
We started translating the segment into Wolof, Twi, and Swahili. As we worked on it, we quickly realized that all the big questions we’d been asking, about ethics, voice, and methodology, were already embedded in the translation process itself. We had to make decisions on key terms, which naturally led us to ask: what point of view are we adopting, and how do we want to approach this?
That’s when we began shaping our translation-ethics guiding practices, which we later shared at the final-term meeting where each lab presented their work. That moment felt like a milestone. It was our way of saying: “this is the work we’ve done, and we’re committed to the principles of radical solidarity. We're not broadcasting a message in a one-way direction, instead, we’re offering a proposition, something for people to engage with, respond to, or critique.
We do a lot of other things: we have weekly meetings, conduct frequent translation circles, discuss roadblocks, and then put the document in our translation tool.
Our last project was a conference, AI, Translation, and Ethics. We had a panel with Dr. Joseph-Gabriel, Dr. Figueroa-Vásquez, and Dr. Gil. It was really interesting to bring all those disciplines together to discuss a very real and urgent topic. From my practice as a translator, I see other disciplines now rallying to ask, “What impact will AI have on our work?” Translation is just a small part of it, obviously. Small lab, but small and mighty!
I’ve recently been trying to make sense of different perspectives I’ve been hearing on AI and translation.
It's an ongoing conversation. Translation has always been debated: are you betraying the work if you translate it or not? Now there’s a new layer: is the profession dead? who actually owns a translation when it's generated by an AI tool? Before, a translator’s name was on the book, and they stood behind their choices. With AI, who's responsible?
That’s just scratching the surface. These questions will be around for a long time. What I really appreciate about the discussions I’ve been part of, like that panel, is that they’re truly interdisciplinary. You have people from the technical side, users who leverage these tools in-house, and folks in academia and government all coming together. That’s a powerful mix.
Q: I am always curious how people got into the things that they're into. So I'd really love to hear how you ended up doing translation professionally.
Yes, very long story, but for your sake, I’ll try to be brief! Originally, I come from the world of political science and international affairs. I did a BA in Social Sciences at Sciences Po Paris, where we covered sociology, political science, anthropology, economics, history, basically all the social sciences. After that, I pursued a master’s in International Governance and Diplomacy because I wanted to work on the government side, in public policy, or ideally in foreign affairs.
Then I worked briefly in international development, in both agriculture and education. That’s where things shifted. I wasn’t hired as a translator; I was a learning and development project manager. But because I was one of the few team members fluent in French, English, and Wolof, I was constantly asked to interpret.
We were selling fertilizers and seeds to small producers, those under the threshold of poverty, or very small producers who grow and eat what they produce. During field visits with board members from the US, you would have a farmer who spoke only Wolof and a board member who spoke only English. Seeing how critical language is in that context, I realized the interpreter does more than facilitate conversation. The farmer has something important to say but can’t express it across the language barrier; the board member might have resources to change the situation but doesn’t grasp the cultural context. Acting as a bridge between two cultures was fulfilling, and that experience gave me the “bug” to become an interpreter.
Languages have always been a passion of mine since I was little. I used to tell myself, “I need to know this number of languages by the time I’m 30.” It didn’t happen, but I’m still trying! Even back in undergrad, I was doing translation on the side. Later, I earned a second master’s degree in translation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, where I studied translation and interpretation. So, that’s how I entered the field. It’s difficult, yes, but rewarding because of everything it has led me to, including this lab, the DSL ecosystem, and the chance to meet interesting people across cultures and social settings, in both moments of crisis and joy. That’s what makes it worth it.
Which language do you consider native, or did you grow up speaking all three languages that you are able to translate?
Yes, I’m native in both French and Wolof, since my parents spoke both to me growing up. I learned English as a foreign language, the way most people might learn French or Spanish in high school. I became truly fluent in English later, probably during undergrad, when I had to study and write in English for my degree.
In interpretation, we use the ABC classification: A is your native language, B is a language you work into, and C is a language you only interpret from. My A languages are Wolof and French, my B language is English, and my unofficial C language is Spanish.
That's such a superpower.
Each person has one thing that they get obsessed with, I guess.
What is something you have done with LifeCode that you're especially proud of, inspired by, or that is a great memory?
One thing I really appreciate about LifeCode is the richness of the interactions. I don’t spend as much time with the other labs, so I don’t know everyone deeply, but in August 2024 I participated in the Diaspora Solidarities Lab’s New Orleans ReMemory Lab [with the Black School in New Orleans]. It was a 10-day gathering organized by DSL with community members in New Orleans, and the experience has stayed with me.
I was part of the Archives group, where we trained on building archives that support Black and diasporic solidarity. We also reflected on the responsibility that comes with shaping memory, questions closely related to our work in the Translation Lab and our panel on AI and translation. Whose voice gets recorded, and who decides how it’s framed?
We explored historic neighborhoods, visited museums, and met curators, including the creator of one exhibition who gave us a personal walkthrough. Every couple of nights, we gathered for debrief sessions to share what we had experienced and how it made us feel. The conversations we had were incredibly insightful, demonstrated community and meaning.
It was the first time I met many LifeCode members in person. I remember talking with someone who had just learned that most of his ancestry traces back to West Africa. He had many questions about identity and what it means to be West African. Our perspectives were different, and we had a deep conversation about global Blackness, solidarity, and how oppression is experienced differently depending on context.
That moment stayed with me. Just because two people are Black doesn’t mean they share the same history or worldview, but honest conversations like that make this work meaningful. I carry that memory with me and hope to participate in more events like it.
I'd love to hear about a piece of media, text, or art that inspires your work.
I never have no idea what to say. It's like when someone asks, “What's your favorite book?” I can never answer that. There’s always something I like in each piece, but I rarely have a single favorite.
In general, I’m drawn to interdisciplinary works. Right now, I’m reading a book about how language operates in the media and how media systems take shape, especially in the U.S. It’s an older book that has been analyzed and debated for decades, but I’m just now reading it because I feel like I finally have the academic background to engage with it properly. After being exposed to so many different disciplines, it really reads differently now.
In general, I read more nonfiction than fiction. And while I wouldn’t say any single piece directly inspires my work, I’m very drawn to work that explores tension. That’s a recurring theme in my practice. In translation, for instance, you're constantly navigating the tension between pragmatism and perfectionism. You ask yourself, how perfect can I make this versus how well will it land with the audience? It's the same in interpretation. There's the urgency of the message, and you have to decide what form it takes in that moment.
Whether it’s a drawing, a song, or a piece of writing, I always find it powerful when the artist or creator is sitting inside a space where there’s no clear right answer. That kind of unresolved tension is really compelling to me.
Even in the rest of my life, when I dive into something new, I tend to gravitate toward the big questions. I always find myself asking, what is this field really trying to figure out? What’s the central tension they’re wrestling with? That curiosity drives a lot of what I do.
Thank you so much. Okay, so the next question we have is what digital humanities tools, methods, or theories do you recommend for people exploring digital humanities? If you feel it'd be more appropriate to change that to a translation tool or method, feel free to answer that way.
When I first saw this question, my honest reaction was, can I even recommend anything? Tools evolve so fast, and it's hard to know what’s actually reliable at any given moment. But I can definitely speak about what we use for translation.
I've worked for years with a translation management system, (for example Trados), but it’s the kind of platform that allows you to manage a full translation workflow. You can upload documents, add context, term bases, and any reference material like a style guide or glossary. The project then goes through each phase: translation, editing, proofreading, and quality assurance.
In the Translation Lab, we started using a simpler platform, called Smartcat - one that’s more beginner-friendly for people who’ve never used this kind of tool before. It might be useful to researchers who want to make their work available in multiple languages but don’t have formal training in translation.
Of course, there’s the AI side of things. A lot of people now use AI to automate translation, but in our case, that’s not really an option. The languages we work with, like Wolof, Twi, and Swahili, aren’t well supported by automatic translation tools. So we do it manually, which actually allows us to think more deeply about each decision. That’s also where our ethics come into play.
Another tool I use a lot, more for personal organization than translation, is Notion. Not to promote it, but for someone like me who has a scattered brain and lots of ideas popping up all the time, it’s really helpful. I have a little database where I store random thoughts, half-formed project ideas, anything I’m not ready to act on yet. Sometimes I’ll open it a year later and be like, “Wow, I forgot I was even thinking about that.”
“I’m very drawn to work that explores tension. That’s a recurring theme in my practice. In translation, for instance, you're constantly navigating the tension between pragmatism and perfectionism. You ask yourself, how perfect can I make this versus how well will it land with the audience? It's the same in interpretation. There's the urgency of the message, and you have to decide what form it takes in that moment.”
Yeah. That's my Notes app on my phone.
Is it? I really like it. It's like… Adaptable, yeah.
I swear I've had some of my best ideas when I'm like… in the in-between zone between sleep and awake. I'm like, this is very inconvenient.
Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. It's always inconvenient.
Okay, so what do you like to do in your free time or how do you recharge?
Free time, what a luxury! Okay, I was just joking. Obviously, I have free time like everybody. But I would say I'm a homebody. I really like being at home, to be honest. There was a period in my life where I wanted to just walk and do ten museums, but not anymore. I'm too tired to do that. So, to me, there's nothing like having a free day where my mind can wander. Like waking up, and not having any email to respond to, any deadline to attend to. Nobody needs anything from me. That's the perfect day for me, time just to think. Depending on what I feel like doing on that day. maybe I'll open my Russian notes to read, maybe I’ll scroll on my phone for 30 minutes or one hour, you know like just having a relaxing day.e. Other than that, I really like racket sports, tennis or badminton, though I don't play them anymore that much because of lack of time. And recently, my obsession is to try to diversify my hobbies and get more into things that require me to use my hands because I realized that all my hobbies have always been very intellectual. So I wanted something that would require me to be more centered and present in the moment. Last summer, I had picked up knitting, but then I dropped it, lost interest, so now I'm reading about woodworking [laughs]. We'll see if I try it since I'm afraid to lose a finger, maybe I'll try … nothing crazy, something like building a box or like a small modest project, but just to prove to myself that I can pick up a tool and build something out of my hand.
I absolutely admire that. I hate doing anything like DIY, crafts, I hate it. [laughs]
It’s more approachable now; you can learn anything on YouTube. My biggest barrier was fear … what if I break a nail? But if others can do it, so can I.
I really admire that attitude. Okay, so last question, is there anything I didn't ask about that you would like to share?
I don't think so. By the way, thank you. This was a really nice conversation. I don't feel like I'm I feel I'm just talking in the air.
Maybe the only thing I would add is this: in the world we’re living in now, there are so many forces pulling people apart, fragmenting communities, societies, and cultures. So if anyone has the capacity to build bridges, especially communication bridges, I think they should.
That’s the power I see in my own work, and also in DSL. Whether it’s through language, storytelling, or archives, we all have some influence over how people connect or disconnect. So if I had a message to leave, it would be to be aware of the responsibility to speak, or to stay silent, and how powerful that choice is. No matter what language we use, or what form our work takes, we should try to move toward connection and away from isolation.
It might sound philosophical or even idealistic, but I really believe that intention can show up in everything we do.
This interview was conducted and edited for space and clarity by Dr. Brooke Lansing Mai.