Apologies for cross-posting!
*Call for Roundtable Participants RGS-IBG 2014: Trials and
Tribulations of Translation between Languages: Lessons from Research
in Geography (and Beyond)*
Luise Fischer and Jochen F. Mayer (both University of Edinburgh)
Research requires acts of translation: often translation between
languages and between different cultural and political contexts.
Conducting research in one language context whilst publishing in
another, collaborating with colleagues with different language
backgrounds, learning languages for fieldwork: each turns academic
research into a constant juggling act between two or more languages
and, concomitantly, between various cultural or, better, transcultural
realities. But issues of translation also occur in intra-cultural
contexts. Nuances in meaning within the same language can cause
different understandings between the interviewer and the interviewee.
Discursive changes within a language over time and place can create
potential for difference between past meanings and the historians’
interpretations (Koselleck 2004; Burke 2005).
Scholarly reflections upon translation as political practice and
analytical category have been rich and manifold, recently prompting
Bachmann-Medick (2009) to declare a ‘translational turn’. The actual
practice of translation, however, has only tentatively been discussed
as both a political and highly subjective process (Müller 2007; Social
Geography special issue 2009; Laessig 2012). Often, the act of
translation has been treated as a fait accompli, concomitantly,
relegating the role of the translator or the translating researcher to
a brief reference in the footnotes.
Building on these works, this roundtable discussion aims at
exploring methodological issues around the practices of translation.
We are particularly keen to rethink the role of the researcher in the
process of doing geographical research that involves translation.
Some questions that may guide discussions:
- Does it matter whether the act of translation act is
identified or not (Temple and Young 2004)?
- How can the practice of self-translation be reflected upon
in the course of academic research?
- What is the ‘daily practice’ of translation like? Do we
share concerns and do we struggle with similar issues?
- What are ‘best practices’ of doing (self-)translation
(e.g., back translation; holus bolus; indicate alternative
translations in footnotes; use of transliterations) (Müller 2007;
Husseini 2009)?
- How do we deal with ‘untranslatable’ elements?
- How does translation affect intersubjective traceability of
geographical academic knowledge?
- Who should do the translation – the researcher as
translator; translator or both?
- To what extent can/should the (professional) translator be
made visible within research and publication?
- How does reflexivity generated within a multilingual
research setting (Crane, Lombard et al. 2009) ‘translate’ into better
awareness and (probably also) a more nuanced understanding of the
research object?
The main body of the session will comprise discussions at
roundtables – each with a specific focus defined by research
methodology (e.g., interview, archival, participatory…research). Each
table will have a suitable facilitator.
We would encourage participants at each table to jot down notes on
major results of their discussion, which will then be fed back to the
entire audience by facilitators/spokesperson in a final 30-minute open
discussion.
Please send an expression of interest (250 words max., including
your experience with translation) and at least ONE issue, question or
idea related to the practice of translation in research to
[log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] by *15 February 2014*.
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