Genealogies of Knowledge I - Translating Political and Scientific Thought across Time and Space - Two Calls for Panel Submissions

Genealogies of Knowledge I

Translating Political and Scientific Thought across Time and Space

7-9 December 2017

Two Calls for Panel Submissions

Call for Panel Papers: The Magic of ‘Classical’ Languages Script, Sound and Sense in the Translation of Sacred Concepts

Convenor: Hephzibah Israel University of Edinburgh

http://genealogiesofknowledge.net/2016/12/09/call-panel-papers-magic-classical-languages-script-sound-sense-translation-sacred-concepts/ 

What is the nature of a ‘sacred’ language? When we examine the translation of key concepts and texts across the spectrum of the so-called ‘World Religions’ we find that much of the nature of their transfer or circulation depends on certain conceptions of languages as sign systems. A minority of key languages are ascribed both ‘classical’ and ‘sacred’ status, while the majority are mostly assigned neither. The most obvious that come to mind are Arabic, Greek, Latin and Sanskrit, which at different historical points and to different degrees have been associated both with classical literature and sacred texts. This twinning of the classical and sacred informs the ontologies of these languages, elevating them to a status far above those designated mundane languages. And yet through human history, translations have continuously been undertaken from such ‘languages of the gods’ (Pollock 2006) into the languages of mortals. How can we study the transfer of sacred concepts between linguistic sign systems that have been conceptualised and deliberately maintained as immensely disparate systems? How does such a classical-sacred ontological make-up of these languages help to construct, diminish, expand, or transform sacred concepts in translation?

This panel seeks to explore the specific links between translation, knowledge construction and modes of signalling the sacred. Contributions to the panel are invited to address translations of concepts from any religious tradition and in any historical period but must focus on translations in the Arabic, Greek, Latin and Sanskrit contexts. Papers should examine the interface between script, sound, orality and textuality in the conception and the reception of the sacred in translation: to what extent do translators rely on the ocular, the aural, the textual and oral to reconstruct key sacred concepts in new contexts? A list of sub themes below is given as a starting point to stimulate discussion on this topic but contributors are invited to explore further:

1. The relationship between ‘classical’ and ‘sacred’ in the conception of one of the four languages of the panel and its function in translation

2. Does translation between two classical languages work differently to translation between a ‘classical’ and a ‘vernacular’ in conveying the sacred?

3. Genealogies of classical usage and translations of key sacred concepts: religion, scripture, faith, conversion, worship etc.

4. Translating the ‘sounds’ of the sacred

5. The role of sacred scripts in sacralising translations

6. Translating the magic and mantra of sacred words

7. Ideas of aesthetics in the translation of sacred concepts: practices of art and practices of the sacred

8. Communities of interpreters: speakers, listeners, translators and readers

9. Challenging translations: power, authority and questioning

Submission of Paper Proposals

Abstracts of 300-500 words should be sent by 15 February 2017 to:

Dr. Hepzibah Israel, H.Israel@ed.ac.uk

Notification of acceptance will be given by 31 March 2017.

Call for Panel Papers: Lingua Francas of Knowledge

Convenor: Karen Bennett Universidade Nova, Lisbon

http://genealogiesofknowledge.net/2016/12/09/call-panel-papers-lingua-francas-knowledge/ 

English is today the unrivalled vehicle for the transmission of knowledge, the language in which most scholarship is published, conferences are held, reading is done and lessons taught. However, its rise to prominence is a relatively recent development in the broad sweep of human history. From the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th, English, French and German enjoyed a roughly equal status as languages of scientific publication, with others, such as Russian and Japanese, occupying niches in particular geographic areas. In the Medieval and Early Modern period, Latin was of course the lingua franca (LF) of learning, once so indispensable that it had to be mastered before any formal education could take place; and before that the prime position was held by Greek, the koiné of the Hellenistic world. Meanwhile, in the East, Arabic, Sanskrit and Chinese were also playing formidable roles in channelling learning through the centuries.

There have also been projects to develop artificial languages to serve as neutral universal vehicles of knowledge. The 17th century a priori philosophical languages of John Wilkins, George Dalgarno and Gottfried Leibniz failed to gain much traction, due to intrinsic weaknesses; but the a posteriori auxiliary languages of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Volapük, Esperanto and Ido, fared better, acquiring considerable numbers of followers in their heyday.

This panel seeks to stimulate reflection about the role played by different vehicular languages in the transmission of knowledge over the centuries, and the philosophical, political and commercial implications of a lingua franca culture (as opposed to a translation culture). Proposals are welcome from scholars working in fields such as linguistics, translation studies, history of science/philosophy, cultural history and epistemology, as well as specialists in particular languages and cultures.

Possible themes:

§ The rise and fall of any of the historical LFs of knowledge and their relationship with the vernaculars

§ Artificial languages: a priori philosophical languages; a posteriori auxiliary languages;

§ Mathematical and computer languages

§ The construction of scientific registers in natural languages: grammatical/lexical requirements; the role of translation; patrons and institutions

§ Issues of power and equity: struggles for dominance between rival LFs; the role of institutions and individuals in promoting and consolidating a LF; the influence of the political and economic context

§ Education in LF cultures: language policies in schools and universities; dissemination to the broader public

§ Language and epistemology: the ‘suitability’ of certain languages to particular kinds of knowledge; the universality/translatability of knowledge

§ Strategies used by non-native speakers to produce knowledge in a lingua franca culture

§ The future of English as academic lingua franca: hegemony, fragmentation, the rise of a rival LF or a return to a (computer-mediated) translation culture?

Selected References:

Gordin, M.D (2015) Scientific Babel: How Science was done before and after Global English Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Harrison, K.D. (2007) When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Ostler, N. (2005) Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World New York and London: HarperCollins.
Osler, N. (2011) The Last Lingua Franca: The Rise and Fall of World Languages London and New York: Penguin.

Submission of Paper Proposals

Abstracts of 300-500 words should be sent by 15 February 2017 to:

Dr Karen Bennett, karen.bennett@netcabo.pt

Notification of acceptance will be given by 31 March 2017.