Rethinking Hegemony and Domination in Translation

Rationale

While there is no doubt that the 'ideological' and 'power turn' have reshaped the discipline of Translation Studies, much work still needs to be done in order to fully understand the ontological and epistemological underpinnings of the impact of ideology and power on the theory and practice of translation. The rapidly changing technological and corporate landscape in which translation theorists and practitioners find themselves immersed makes it necessary to keep exploring issues of power through sustained interdisciplinary engagement with other fields, such as the social sciences, critical philosophy or political science. Despite an increasing awareness of the impossibility of value-free research or practice, there appears to be a certain lack of self-reflection on our own entanglement within contemporary power structures. Structures which, in the apparent absence of an alternative to the current global capitalist orthodoxy, are largely driven by financial, economic and technological forces. With a view to opening a new debate on questions of hegemony and domination in relation to translation, this special issue aims to gather cutting-edge and cross-disciplinary research. By encouraging contributors to rethink the impact of power and ideology on the theory and practice of translation as well as on their own critical reflections, we welcome proposals dealing with contemporary political, sociocultural, (eco)linguistic, financial-economic and technological aspects of translation. The main aim of this special issue is to explore translation as a phenomenon caught in the conflicting forces of individual subjectivities, cross-cultural asymmetries, hegemonic values and the tensions between market-driven and customer-centric approaches.

Papers could focus on any of the following themes and aspects

Towards a (critical) theory of ideology and power relations in translation

• The legacy of the 'cultural' and 'power' turns
• New critical insights into the concepts of power and ideology and their relevance to translation theory
• Technoscience and posthumanism: a new turn in Translation Studies?

Power and ideology in the translation industry

• Ideological effects of technological change on translation theory and practice
• The social and ideological impact of translation technology
• Neoliberalism and technological rationalization

Politics, policy making and translation

• (Neo)imperialism after postcolonialism
• Symbolic violence, heteroglossia and (linguistic) imperialism
• Translation (technology) as a tool for activism and resistance

Deadlines

• submission of 1-2 page proposal by 30 April 2015
• notification of acceptance of proposals by 31 May 2015
• submission of completed papers by 31 December 2015
• submission of revised papers by 31 August 2016
• publication date: March 2017

Submission

Articles will be 6000-8000 words in length in English. Paper proposals of 400-500 words as well as the first completed and final versions of papers should be sent directly by email to all the guest editors. Detailed guidelines for papers are available at: https://benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/target/guidelines

Contacts

All inquiries should be sent to all the guest editors: Stefan Baumgarten (s.baumgarten@bangor.ac.uk); Jordi Cornellà-Detrell (jordi.cornella@glasgow.ac.uk); Yan Ying (y.ying@bangor.ac.uk).