Abstract:
This workshop discusses the historical context of translation in literature and religion, examines the role of translation and cultural encounter between English and other languages like Spanish, French, and Chinese, especially as they relate to and surround figures like Bartolomé de Las Casas, Matteo Ricci, and Ezra Pound, who are key to writing, cultural encounters and translation between Europeans and the Indigenous peoples of the New World and with the Chinese, two significant moments in history that led to the transformation of culture in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. These central figures in religious, literary, and cultural exchange in encounters that changed history wrote and were written about, translated and were translated culturally. The chapter also draws on translations of Aztec accounts of the encounter between Spaniard and the Mexica (or Aztec) as well as the work of Chinese scholars in areas like translation and the work and translation of Ezra Pound as something that can deepen scholarship in the West. There are different sides to questions and these texts by the Aztec and Chinese writers and scholars enrich understanding of cultural translation and exchange. Translation in religion and literature adds something to the language and culture of the translating culture. Translation is necessary for the identity of cultures, including that of English, a global language. By examining different texts, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we can see how important texts about culture and cultural contact are to the formation of identity surrounding religion, culture, and language.
About the Speaker:
Jonathan Locke Hart is Honorary Professor and was Chair Professor at the School of Translation Studies, Shandong University, Weihai, where he also serves as the Director of the International Cooperation Centre for Cultural Studies and Digital Humanities. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of Academia Europaea, and a Fellow at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at Victoria College, University of Toronto. Additionally, he is an Associate of the Harvard University Herbaria and a Life Member of Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge. Prof Hart has authored over twenty books, edited multiple volumes, and contributed numerous chapters. He has received many international awards, including two Fulbright scholarships to Harvard. His service on national and international committees, such as Fulbright and Killam, complements his academic achievements. He has held visiting appointments at prestigious institutions, including Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton, and the Sorbonne-Nouvelle (Paris III), as well as UC Irvine. Hart has also delivered classes, talks, readings, and lectures internationally.
