Translation and the Construction of Identity

Special Panel: Disciplinary Identity:  Redefining Translation in the 21st Century

Chaired by : Theo Hermans

There was a time when translation studies as practised in the dominant intellectual centres in the West focused primarily on interlingual translation of canonical written texts. Today the horizon is much wider. It encompasses popular culture, multimedia texts, localization and sign language as well as the diverse translation and interpreting traditions across the globe. The discipline has fragmented into a colourful variety of approaches, methodologies, discourses and networks. Other fields of study and modes of thought, from hermeneutics and anthropology to philosophy and postcolonialism, have foregrounded issues of translation and extended the concept. These developments are bound to affect whatever fragile identity translation studies may claim, whether as an ancillary discipline or as a research programme.

The panel seeks to address questions concerning the changing modes of and markets for translation, the development, current state and likely or desirable future shape of translation studies, and the impact of geopolitical and cultural factors on both translation and translation studies.

Specific issues which may generate particular interest include the following:

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