International Conference in Translation Studies: “Translation and Minority”

University of Ottawa, School of Translation and Interpretation

November 10-11, 2017

Keynote speakers (confirmed):

Anthony Pym, Rovira i Virgili University, Spain

Debbie Folaron, Concordia University, Canada

Here at University of Ottawa’s School of Translation and Interpretation we provide established and emerging researchers of various backgrounds with an opportunity to share the results of their work on Translation Studies as an academic discipline and on its future avenues of development. This year’s topic is Translation and Minority.

Scientific committee:

Lin Chen, Tongji University, China; Rainier Grutman, University of Ottawa, Canada; Germana Henriques Pereira, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil; Hala Kamal, Cairo University, Egypt; Catherine Leclerc, McGill University, Canada; Kris Peeters, University of Antwerp, Belgium; Nike Pokorn, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; Peng Wang, University of Maryland, USA

Minor-ness has been imagined in various ways: from unspeakability in Giorgio Agamben’s Homo Sacer (1998) or Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject (1982) and from carnival in Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of grotesque body (1993) or Georges Battaille’s notion of excess (1991), to the potentially revolutionary Body without Organs that embarks on various lines of flight (Deleuze and Guattari 1988) in order to escape sameness and embrace difference. In all its forms, the minor has the potential to be truly free: in becoming, in already being constructed and still being constructed, as a way to acknowledge interstices and particularity, ethnic diversity, and cultural heterogeneity.

In ‘minor’ contexts, translation is the underpinning condition for difference, preserving identity, and serving local concerns—which have often been neglected for the benefit of a more general image of the global ethos. In recent years, there have been claims that Translation Studies is becoming wonderfully aware of its Eurocentric / Western roots and biases (Gentzler 2008, Tymoczko 2007, Trivedi 2006) and that efforts are being made towards a more democratic view on the role translators and Translation Studies scholars from all cultures play in defining the field. However, various terms such as Eurocentrism or Westernization are still actively used in TS and so are a number of biased comparative paradigms that acknowledge and endorse the precedence of a centre. Various small European countries are still happily pigeonholed as ‘minor’ nations that follow in the footsteps of ‘major’ cultures like France and England, while other small countries all over the world, for which translation plays a paramount role, are largely unaccounted for.

First, our conference aims to contribute to the internationalization of the field of Translation Studies by presenting scholarly work which focuses on theories and practices originating in ‘minor’ contexts (which translate more) and in lesser-translated languages. Second, we invite contributions which address new translation practices and new ways of defining translation in more visible cultures, which have long been associated with certain more hegemonic traditions. Last but not least, we welcome research work that places translation at the nexus between humanities and science and shows how technology helps redefining translation beyond the prevailing geographical paradigm.

The conference themes will revolve around, but will not be limited to, the following topics:

Theoretical understandings of minor-ness;

New paradigms for ‘minor’ and minority cultures in Translation Studies;

Narratives of marginality and identity: small nations in translation;

Nomadism and transnationalism: translators redefining themselves;

Restoring the balance: lesser-translated languages in TS;

Practices of the peripheries: translators at work in ‘minor’ contexts;

Activist translation: the voice of the few;

Bilingualism, multilingualism, and diglossia;

Minoritization of ‘major’ languages through heteroglossia;

‘Minor’ practices in translation;

Translation and cultural analytics;

Overcoming minor-ness through the digital revolution.

Each presentation will be allotted 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute question period. The working languages of the conference are French and English.

Scholars are invited to submit a 300-word abstract in Word format (Times New Roman, 12 pt, single spaced). Please make sure to include the following information (in this order): the title of your presentation, your name, affiliation, e-mail address, abstract, 5 key-words, short bio (70-80 words), and selected bibliography. Pdf files are not accepted.

Papers are to be submitted via the Easy Chair system by May 30, 2017. We are unable to accept e-mail submissions.

Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=tm2fd 

All authors are to be notified on June 15. For questions, please do not hesitate to contact the organizer, Raluca Tanasescu, at rtana014 [at] uottawa.ca.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

For More Details visit us at    https://translationandminority.wordpress.com/about/