Cfp: International Conference “Translation in Science, Science in Translation”
International Conference “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.
References
Bachmann-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.