Abstract:
Translation is one of the core practices through which any cultural group constructs representations of another and contests representations of the self. Part of its power stems from the fact that as a genre, it tends to be understood as “merely” reporting on something that is already available in another social space, that something being an independent source text that pre-exists the translation. Using concrete examples of subtitled political commercials and video clips created by both political lobbies and activists, this presentation will attempt to demonstrate that far from being a documentary practice that follows and is subsidiary to an independent source text, translation is imbricated in an ongoing process of (re)constructing the world through narrative performance.
About the Speaker:
Mona Baker is Professor of Translation Studies at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies, University of Manchester, UK and is currently leading the Citizen Media at Manchester initiative (www.citizenmediamanchester.wordpress.com). She is author of In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation (Routledge, 1992; second edition 2011) and Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account (Routledge, 2006), Editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (1998, 2001; second edition, co-edited with Gabriela Saldanha, 2009); Critical Concepts: Translation Studies (4 volumes, Routledge, 2009); and Critical Readings in Translation Studies (Routledge, 2010). Her articles have appeared in a wide range of international journals, including Social Movement Studies, Critical Studies on Terrorism, The Translator and Target. She is founding Editor of The Translator (St. Jerome Publishing, 1995-2013), former Editorial Director of St. Jerome Publishing (1995-2013), and founding Vice-President of IATIS (International Association for Translation & Intercultural Studies – www.iatis.org).