Εμπειρίες μετάφρασης ...: III International Conference Translating Voices, Translating Regions

Δευτέρα 6 Φεβρουαρίου 2012

III International Conference Translating Voices, Translating Regions

The Translating Cultures Group of the Institute of Advanced Studies of Durham University is pleased to announce the III International conference Translating Voices, Translating Regions.

Opening Workshop, 9 March 2012

Translation as a Process: translators and cultural change

Invited speakers

Lawrence Venuti, Temple University, USA

Victoria Moul, King’s College London, UK

Astrid Guillaume, Université de la Sorbonne, Paris, France

Dario Brancato, Concordia University, Canada

Conference, 10-11 March 2012

Translators as Mediators: Trading local cultures and languages

Keynote speakers

Natalie Zemon Davis, Toronto University, Canada [Durham General Lectures Series]

David Katan, Università del Salento, Italy

Isabella Lazzarini, Università del Molise, Italy

Venue: Joachim Room, St Hild and St Bede College, Durham University, Durham, UK

Dates: 9.03.2012 – 11.03.2012

Times: 10:00-17:00

Website: http://www.dur.ac.uk/mlac/translatingvoices

The third International conference aims to address questions around the role of translators as mediators of local cultures over the centuries, following consistently and in many ways completing the work initiated by the first two of the series (2005 and 2007), where new approaches to the debate on translation of regionalised languages were discussed. The conference intends to focus on the particularly elusive figure of the translator, following its status, development and perception from the Middle Ages to the early 17^th century. The translator shows a complex and multifaceted nature, both in terms of education and background that deserves thorough scrutiny.

The conference intends to bring together experts studying those literary translators that were used for socio-political purposes, either to create voices of discontent or to support the official powers, while trading their local regions or patrons against hegemonic or dominant cultures. As elusive as the figures of commercial, political, and diplomatic translators and interpreters can be, nonetheless they often gave a voice and a scope to the politics and projects of their regions. Their social role and positions deserve greater attention and new research methods that cross-fertilize approaches beyond disciplinary boundaries.

The importance of the historical context in which translators operated in the past would reveal essential clues to the complex social status of translators and interpreters over the centuries, by shedding light on their functions and the often ambivalent and ambiguous ways in which they were perceived. The themes aim at bringing together researchers and scholars interested in discussing the role of translators as cultural diplomats.

The organisers welcome proposals exploring the life of individuals, guilds, associations, schools, or groups of translators or interpreters, as well as approaches that intend to identify a typology of translators and interpreters in diplomatic settings. The conference aims to address these issues from a range of historical, pragmatic, and theoretical perspectives, and welcomes proposals for papers of the duration of 30 minutes; 10 minutes will be added for discussion.

Papers should engage with the following themes:

Translators as mediators of lingua-cultures

Accessibility: negotiating political ideas between cultures and epochs

Availability: trading ideas, technologies, and commercial goods in areas of conflict (the Mediterranean, East and West, etc)

Ideological choices of strategies: censorship in its various forms

The education and background of the multilingual cultural mediators

Translators as diplomats

Ideological choices: translating for whom? Translating what? Selective processes of translation

Sociological impact: background, profile, social status of translators

Lingua franca (or linguae francae) and translators: the mediums of the mediators

Traders and religious men as translators of cultures

Use of local vernacular for local trades outside the dominant languages

Use of local vernacular for international trades against international languages and lingua franca

Analysis of translators who worked on essential communication for commercial purposes and suddenly become major players in political disputes

Analysis of travelling religious men who acted as translators

Papers will be accepted in English and French. The convenors are Dr Federico M. Federici and Dr Dario Tessicini of Durham University, UK. A Scientific Committee will be involved in the selection of the papers for the conference. To submit a paper to the conference, please email Dr Federici, f.m.federici@durham.ac.uk, providing:

- A 250-word abstract

- 6 keywords

- Professional affiliation

- Email address

- 150 words of bio-notes

The conference convenors will put together a book proposal to Cambridge University Press for an edited volume collecting the conference papers from spring 2012. The edited volume will be peer-reviewed and selected papers for inclusion will be expanded into fully-fledged 9,000-10,000-word chapters discussing the topics presented at the conference.

Registration fee: £50 GBP. Registration fees will be payable by cheque (in pounds) and credit card.

NEW: a 50%-discounted registration fee is now available to MA and PhD students to attend the conference without delivering a paper. £25 GBP.

To register click here.