La traduction dans la science

Translation in Science, Science in Translation

Call for Papers

International Conference

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.