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
Power and ideology in the translation industry
Politics, policy making and translation
Deadlines
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).
Call for PapersEvent: the 16th International Symposium on Bilingualism.Place and date: University of Saskatchewan, Canada, June 14-18, 2027. Thems and topics:Bi-multilingual speech and communicationCognitive, neuro- and psycholinguisticsChild and adolescent bi-multilingual developmentAdult bi-multilingual developmentEducation and pedagogy HJHeritage, immigrant, regional and other minority languagesIndigenous languagesTranslation and InterpretingSociolinguistics and Sociology of languageSpeech-language pathology; Health CommunicationAbstract submission deadline: 1 October 2026. More details: https://conferences.usask.ca/isb16/
Call for Abstracts This is a call for an edited volume on 'Translators at Work in Periodicals: Agency, Mediation, and Cultural Power'. Edited by Ivana Hostová and Eva SpišiakováSuggested topics:• periodicals as infrastructures of literary, cultural, and intellectual mediation• translators, editors, reviewers, and other mediators shaping periodical cultures• translators’ multiple roles, including editing, curating, annotating, and framing• distributed, relational, or contested agency in periodical cultures• translator agency, editorial strategy, and activism• translation in peripheral, semi-peripheral, or politically unstable ecologies• periodicals as spaces of cultural resistance, ideological struggle, or symbolic negotiation• paratextual framing, editorial positioning, and the politics of selection• material and medial conditions of translation, including format, layout, page space, seriality, and multimodality• circulation of minoritized, marginalized, or non-canonical literatures• periodicals and the transfer of theory, philosophy, science, or political ideas• translation in periodicals and the making of national, regional, or transnational cultures• microhistorical or biographical studies of translators and editors• actor-network, social-network, bibliographic, or database-driven approaches• methodological reflections on blending close reading with large-scale or digitally assisted analysisDeadline for abstracts: 31 December 2026Deadline for full chapters: 31 July 2028Expected publication: 2029Full info: https://ktr.ff.ukf.sk/en/research/call-for-abstracts-translators-at-work-in-periodicals-agency-mediation-and-cultural-power/
Call for Papers:Conference: Global North and Global South Perspectives on Literature, Linguistics, and Translation.Organised by the Research Centre for Irish Studies (RCIS).Date: 7-8 June 2026. Main themes: Literature;Irish Studies;Linguistics;Translation, Power and Knowledge Circulation. Submission deadline: 30 April 2026More info: https://old.bue.edu.eg/global-north-and-global-south-perspectives-on-literature-linguistics-and-translation-conference-7-8-june-2026/
Call for papers:Journal: Translation in Society.Special issue on 'Translation, Social Media, and the Creator Economy' (2028)Guest editors: Renée Desjardins & Émilie Gobeil-Roberge.Main themes: Translation strategies and practices among creators, influencers, and social media usersTranslation tools used by creators and influencers to expand their multilingual reachTranslation as a form of online compliance or resistanceTranslation and online misinformation, disinformation, and propagandaTranslation, social platforms, and societyTerminology related to the social internet and the creator economySocial platform translation and language policiesMultilingual influencers and creatorsMultilingual online activismMultilingual fandomsMultilingual and translation trends on social platformsDeadline for abstract submissions: July 1, 2026Full info: https://www.benjamins.com/series/tris/callforpapers.pdf
Call for PapersThis is a call to submit papers to the non-thematic issue of JosTrans, 48, to be published in July 2027. The journal welcomes submissions on:Theoretical, methodological and practical issues in specialised translation,Subject field translation/interpreting, i.e. medical, legal, financial, technical, localisation, etc.Media accessibility and audiovisual translationTranslation technologies, translation and AI (with human factors),Aspects of training and teaching specialised translation/interpreting.Submission deadline: June 30, 2026. More details: https://www.jostrans.org/about/cfp48
