CALL FOR PAPERS: “Translation in Science, Science in Translation”

30-31 March 2017, Justus Liebig University Giessen
Deadline for applications: 31 July 2016

Invited speakers: Dr Doris Bachmann-Medick (Giessen), Dr Maeve Olohan (Manchester), Dr Benedikt Perak (Rijeka)

In recent years, considerable scholarly attention has been drawn to interdisciplinary research between the fields of Translation Studies and History of Science, which has shed light on, for instance, the workings of scientific communities, the dissemination of knowledge across languages and cultures, and the transformation in the process of that knowledge and of the scientific communities involved. Translators are brought to the fore, and if they were once treated as anecdotal actors in scientific exchanges, they are now understood as key agents. The Translation in Science, Science in Translation conference precisely engages in all these questions suggested by the conversation between Translation Studies and History of Science, and understands language as a complex phenomenon that includes dialects, sociolects and disciplinary tongues, and science as encompassing the natural and the social sciences. The focus is from early modernity to the present, and the conference’s translational perspective also applies to movements across disciplines, and to communication between scholars and lays (Montgomery 2000, Elshakry 2013, Olohan 2014).

We particularly welcome proposals from scholars and PhD students working on regions and languages underrepresented in research on the following topics:

1. Scientific Translation over Time and Space

• Changes in the practice and norms of scientific translation over time, space and across disciplines.
• The role of translated texts in the appropriation of scientific knowledge.
• The impact of the language of science upon non-scientific language and everyday language on the language of science through translation (science communication).

2. Behind the Scenes: Actors and Strategies Involved in Scientific Translation

• Changes in translation policies: the role of scientific translators.
• The practice of individual and collective translation of scientific texts, spaces and networks of scientific translation (institutions, funding, freedom of research).

3. Scientific Translation as Epistemic Practice

• Scientific translation and epistemic change.
• Scientific translation and change within the scientific culture/community of the source text.
• Translating non-verbal material: images, illustrations, graphs and tables, photographs, etc.
• Scientific translation and the creation or reinforcement of cultural boundaries (Brisset 2000, Ramakrishnas 2010).

Proposals
Please submit an abstract of no more than 350 words along with a bio-bibliographical note (as a single PDF-file) by 31 July 2016 to translationinscience@gmail.com.
There are a limited number of grants to cover travel and accommodation expenses. Should you wish to be considered for one of these, please submit a short letter of motivation.

Organization
The conference is organized by Katharina Kühn (International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture, University of Giessen), Dr Rocío G. Sumillera (Universidad de Granada), and Dr Jan Surman (Herder Institute, Marburg), in collaboration with the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), the Giessen Graduate School for Humanities (GGK), the Giessen Centre for East European Studies (GiZo), the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association, the Department for Cultural Studies at the University of Rijeka, and the University of Granada.

ReferencesBachmann-Medick, Doris. The Trans/National Study of Culture: A Translational Perspective. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2016.
Brisset, Annie. “The Search for a Native Language: Translation and Cultural Identity,” in The Translation Studies Reader, ed. Lawrence Venuti. London/New York: Routledge, 2000, 343-375.
Elshakry, Marwa. Reading Darwin in Arabic, 1860–1950. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Montgomery, Scott L. Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Olohan, Maeve. “History of Science and History of Translation: Disciplinary Commensurability?”, The Translator, 20.1 (2014): 9-25.
Ramakrishnas, Shanta. “Translation and the Quest of Identity: Democratization of Knowledge in 19th-Century India”, in Translation and Culture: Indian Perspectives, ed. G. J. V. Prasad. New Delhi: Pencraft, 2010, 19-35.

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Dr. Jan Surman
wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
Leibniz Graduate School “Geschichte, Wissen, Medien in Ostmitteleuropa”
Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung Gisonenweg 5-7, D-35037 Marburg
Email: Jan Surman
WWW: https://herder-institut.academia.edu/JanSurman
Tel.: +49 6421 1754983

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Leibniz Graduate School “History, Knowledge, Media in East Central Europe”
Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe Gisonenweg 5-7, D-35037 Marburg
Email: Jan Surman
WWW: https://herder-institut.academia.edu/JanSurman
Tel.: +49 6421 1754983

Recent European (Re)translations of Shakespeare

29 June - 2 July 2015, University of Worcester, UK
A seminar at the ESRA conference

Conveners: Lily Kahn (UCL),  l.kahn@ucl.ac.uk
Márta Minier (University of South Wales), marta.minier@southwales.ac.uk
Martin Regal (University of Iceland), martinregal@gmail.com

The longevity of Shakespearean translations is generally somewhat limited. Although some canonical translations have a relatively long life as literary works and/or in the theatre, it is common for Shakespeare to be retranslated periodically. Within Europe there is a widespread phenomenon of systematic series of (re)translations of Shakespeare’s complete works; in recent years this trend has given rise to the WSOY Finnish Complete Works, completed in 2013, the new Polish Complete Works, the New Romanian Shakespeare series, and others. In addition, specially commissioned individual retranslations designed for specific productions are a common feature of the European theatrical scene. Examination of the rich variety of issues surrounding this phenomenon of retranslation in the European context can provide valuable insights into the theory and practice of Shakespearean interpretation.

This proposed seminar will bring together scholars, editors and practising translators engaged in the production and analysis of Shakespearean translations. It will also be open to dramaturges or directors who would like to comment on working with new or revised (that is, dramaturgically adjusted) translations. Proposals will be welcomed on topics including but not limited to the following:

• factors galvanising the decision to produce new translations, including philological and interpretive shifts, changing conventions of theatre, and the emergence of new performance and directorial styles; 
• the collaborative framework behind commissioned translations and the relationship between the translator and other stakeholders;
• societal perceptions of the modern Shakespeare translator; trends in the selection of different translation strategies (e.g. foreignising vs. domesticating);
• comparisons between alternative translations of the ‘same’ play (both synchronically and diachronically);
• different translations of a single play by the same translator; the use of updated and otherwise modified versions of existing translations in new productions instead of commissioning completely original work; 
• the critical reception of new translations both in textual format and in theatrical contexts.

We will consider papers focusing on academic translation series not necessarily intended for performance in addition to those specifically commissioned or designed for theatrical use that may not be as suitable for employment in educational contexts.

Please submit an abstract (200-300 words) and a brief biography (150 words) by 1 December 2014 to all seminar conveners. All participants will be notified about the acceptance of their proposals by 1 March 2015. The deadline for submitting the completed seminar papers (3,000 words) is 1 May 2015.



Conference Announcement

The traffic of Shakespeare’s stage invites spectators and readers to travel to different places, imagined and real. Italian and French cities – Verona, Venice, Mantua, Padua, Florence, Milan, Rome, Navarre, Roussillon, Paris, Marseilles – set the scenes of his plays. Rome, Athens, Ephesus and Troy occasion travels in time. On Britain’s map – divided in King Lear – other places are mapped: Scotland, England, Windsor, the Forest of Arden, York. Viola arrives on ‘the shore’ of Illyria while, in The Winter’s Tale, the action shifts between Bohemia and Sicilia. Othello sets up camp in Cyprus and Don Pedro returns, victorious, to Messina. Within the confines of one play, Hamlet, too, maps Europe: from Elsinore, Laertes requests permission to return to France; the Mousetrap is set in Vienna, which will become the setting for Measure for Measure; Hamlet is sent to England, and on his way encounters the Norwegian army marching across Denmark on its way to Poland.

Time and geographical travels map a whole continent and its social, political and cultural exchanges – a feature that Shakespeare’s plays shared with his early modern contemporaries as much as they have with his readers, editors, translators, spectators, film adaptors and critical commentators since.

The 2015 ESRA conference continues the long-standing dialogue between Shakespeare’s Europe and Europe’s Shakespeare(s). It asks scholars to take a look at the wider playwriting context of the early modern period and the European reception of Shakespeare as a subject that has been continuously developing, not least due to Europe’s several recent remappings. Twenty-five years since the first events that focused exclusively on European Shakespeares (Antwerp 1990) and Shakespeare in the New Europe (Sofia 1992), ESRA 2015 invites a look back at 425 years of European Shakespeare and towards a vigorous debate on what Shakespeare means for Europe today, as well as on ESRA’s place in Shakespeare Studies, European and beyond.

Diplomacy and Culture in the Early Modern World

The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities 31 July to 2 August.

This conference is dedicated to diplomacy in the early modern world. It will build upon the recent ‘cultural turn’ in diplomatic studies that has seen more innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to a subject that was once viewed in heavily bureaucratic and constitutional terms. Scholars are increasingly appreciating the importance of ritual and other forms of symbolic communication in diplomatic practices and the role of diplomatic processes in cultural exchanges. Diplomats were important political brokers whose actions could have profound implications for international relations, but they played an equally important role in the transfer and adaptation of cultural ideas and artefacts through their activities as cultural agents, authors and brokers. The profound impact of diplomacy on culture in this period is, moreover, seen in the increasing prominence of representations of diplomacy in literature and a range of other media. The aim of this conference is to further our understanding of early modern diplomatic practices, of the dynamics of diplomatic exchanges both within and without Europe, and how diplomatic ideas and practices interacted with other cultural and political processes. The keynote address will be given by Professor Christian Windler (University of Bern). The conference will feature two extended panel discussions. One, led by Professor John Watkins (University of Minnesota), will be dedicated to new approaches to diplomatic studies. A second will examine Professor Timothy Hampton’s idea of a ‘diplomatic moment’ in Renaissance literature.

The conference marks the culmination of the AHRC-funded international research network ‘Textual Ambassadors’ (www.textualambassadors.org) and aims to set its findings in broader cultural context.

We will consider proposals for papers and panel on any aspect of early modern diplomacy, but we will particularly welcome proposals for papers that take innovative approaches or address the following topics:

• The impact of literary developments on, and use of literary texts in, diplomatic practice
• The role of diplomatic processes and channels in the circulation of texts and literary ideas
• Diplomacy and translation
• Representations of diplomacy in literary texts and art
• The wider cultural reception of diplomacy and evolving diplomatic practices
• The material culture of early modern diplomacy
• Ritual and protocol in diplomatic encounters
• Diplomatic personnel, training, and careers
• Diplomacy and cross-cultural exchange
• Cultures of diplomatic practice
• Gender and diplomacy
• Early modern legal and philosophical attitudes to, and influences on, diplomacy

Proposals for 20 minute papers or panels of 3-4 papers should be sent to Tracey Sowerby tracey.sowerby@history.ox.ac.uk and Jo Craigwood jeie2@cam.ac.uk by 21 March 2014. Individual paper proposals should be no more than 300 words. Panel proposals should include abstracts of all papers (max 300 words) and a brief rationale (max 100 words) for the panel. All proposals should be accompanied by a short statement of affiliation and career. Delegates will be notified by 15 April 2014. All enquiries should be addressed to tracey.sowerby@history.ox.ac.uk.