Abstract:
What would happen if translation theories and cultural studies talk to each other? In this talk, Dr Cynthia Tsui will reveal that “translation” can be used as a thinking method that sheds light on other disciplines. Although translation is traditionally viewed as a linguistic practice, it visualizes a reasoning model of the “in-between”. Meanwhile, the humanistic concerns in cultural studies provide an applicable context that help us better understand the significance of “translation” in contemporary world.
Drawing support from western translation theories, the concept of “translation” will be explained as an independent space overarching the source and target texts as well as cultures. Translation thus informs a crucial middle process of mediation, negotiation and rewriting between languages, cultures and national boundaries. This new perspective will be applied on four notions in cultural studies—namely “subjectivity”, “difference”, “hybridity” and “power” – which are all vital ideas in rethinking questions and our identities in the postmodern global age.
This talk substantiates “the translation turn in cultural studies” proposed by Susan Bassnett, showing the strength of the concept and theories of “translation” in interdisciplinary research. “Translation” will be brought to a new horizon that is built upon but extended beyond what we conventionally thought about “translation”.
About the Speaker:
Dr Cynthia SK Tsui read her PhD at the University of Warwick, UK. Her research focuses on the independence in the concept of “translation”, which is a cutting-edge invention in the theories of translation studies.
Dr Tsui is keen on promoting “translation” as a new thinking method. This applies to East-West comparative studies in literature and multimedia, cultural and interdisciplinary research, and issues in globalization. Another aspect of her scholarship is to bring Hong Kong culture and Chinese / Asian perspectives to the international platform of translation studies.
Before going academic, Dr Tsui worked in the sector of public relations and publishing in the Hong Kong government and private companies. Her career experience enables her to communicate effectively between the professional and academic spheres of translation.