Interdisciplinarity and Translation Studies
Translation Studies was established from the beginning in dialogue with adjacent fields such as Comparative Literature, Philosophy and Linguistics and it has always been conceived as an open scientific field in which the openness of the concept of translation itself is taken for granted (Tymozcko 1998, 2006). The increasing number of disciplines with which translation studies interrelate, apart from literary and linguistic ones (Political Science, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Communication Studies, Semiotics, Film studies, Neurosciences, Computational Linguistics etc.), has led to the contribution of concepts and taxonomies to the field by different scholars. These concepts are gradually entering its research nucleus as shown in the relevant international literature (Snell-Hornby, Pöchhacker & Kaindl 1994; Wills 1999; Chesterman 2002; Floros 2005; Gambier 2006; Lambert 2012; Gentzler 2014; Abend-David 2014; Ehrensberger-Dow, Göpferich & O’Brien 2015; Gambier & van Doorslaer 2016; Rojo López & Campos Plaza 2016).
Following the trends in interdisciplinary academic research (Klein 1990 and 1996; Hübenthal 1994; Salter & Hearn 1996; Boden 1999; Bal 2002), Translation Studies move in-between interdisciplinarity, which derives from concept and tool borrowing and an arborescent perception of knowledge (Blumczynski 2016, 28-31), and transdisciplinarity, a form of interdisciplinary synergy which views knowledge in a rhizomatic way (Blumczynski 2016, 28-31). In this sense, transdisciplinarity is realized when two or more fields of knowledge mutually open up to each other broadening their research perspective (Gambier & van Doorslaer 2016; Yasici 2016; Odacıoğlu 2015). Such perceptions tend to bring about major changes even to the perception of Translation Studies as an interdisciplinary field and to such a degree that reference is now being made to a post-discipline (Gentzler, 2014) and to post-Translation Studies: “We imagine a sort of new era that could be termed post-translation studies, where translation is viewed as fundamentally transdisciplinary, mobile, and open ended” (Nergaard and Arduini 2011, 8).
The present volume of the journal Syn-Thèses aspires to contribute to the study of both translation studies’ multiple relationship with other disciplines and the challenges that this relationship might bring about, as well as to the study of potential changes in the nature of the field itself. In this context, the contributions could discuss theoretical models and approaches, case studies, methods, practices and specific applications related to the whole range of Translation Studies when in contact with other scientific fields.
More specifically, but not exclusively, the papers may address:
Research models in translation and interpreting
The dialogue of translation studies with specific scientific fields ranging from Communication Studies and Sociology to the exact sciences and neurosciences
The integration of translation theory and practice into other epistemological fields
The ethics of translation
Mappings of translation communities
Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methods and practices in translation research
Epistemological models of Translation Studies
Approaches to translation and interpreting related to globalization and current digital realities
Technological approaches
References
Abend-David, D. (ed.) (2014). Media and Translation: An Interdisciplinary Approach. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.
Arduini, S. & Nergaard, S. (2011). “Translation: A New Paradigm”. Translation, inaugural issue, 8-17.
Bal, M. (2002). Traveling Concepts in the Humanities. A Rough Guide. Toronto / Buffalo / London: University of Toronto Press.
Blumczynski, P. (2016). Ubiquitous Translation. London / New York: Routledge.
Boden, M. A. (1999). “What is interdisciplinarity?” In R. Cunningham (eds), Interdisciplinarity and the organization of knowledge in Europe, 13-24. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Chesterman , Α. (2002) “On the Interdisciplinarity of Translation Studies”. Logos and Language 3, 1, 1-9.
Floros, G. (2005). “Translation Typology and the Interdisciplinarity of Translatology”. Meta, 50(4). doi:10.7202/019837ar
Gambier, Y. & van Doorslaer, L. (eds) (2016). Border Crossings: Translation Studies and other disciplines. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Gambier, Υ. (2006). “Pour une socio-traduction”. In Ferreira Duarte, J., Assis Rosa, A. & Seruya, T. (eds), Translation Studies at the Interface of Disciplines. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 29-42.
Gentzler, E. (2014). “Translation Studies: Pre-Discipline, Discipline, Interdiscipline, and Post-Discipline”. International Journal of Society, Culture and Language, 2 (2), 14-24.
Hübenthal, U. (1994). “Interdisciplinary thought”. Issues in integrative studies, 12, 55-75.
Klein J. T. (1990) Interdisciplinarity: History, Theory, and Practice. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Klein, J. T. (1996). Crossing boundaries: knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Lambert, J. (2012). “Interdisciplinarity in Translation Studies”. In Gambier, Y. & Doorslaer, L. van (eds), Handbook of Translation Studies, vol. 3. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 81-88.
Odacıoğlu M. C. (2015). “From Interdisciplinarity to Transdisciplinarity in Translation Studies in the Context of Technological Tools & Localization Industry”. International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies, 3 (3), 14-19. doi:10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.3n.3p.14.
Salter, L. & Hearn, A. (eds) (1996). Outside the lines: issues in interdisciplinary research. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. Published for the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Snell-Hornby, M., Pöchhacker, F. & Kaindl, K. (eds) (1994). Translation Studies: An Interdiscipline. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Tymoczko, M. (1998). “Computerized Corpora and the Future of Translation Studies”. Meta, 43(4), 652–660. doi:10.7202/004515ar
Tymoczko, M. (2005). “Trajectories of Research in Translation Studies”. Meta, 50(4), 1082–1097. doi:10.7202/012062ar
Wilss,W. (1999). “Interdisciplinarity in Translation Studies”. Target, 11(1), 131–144.
Yasici, M. (2016). “A Tentative Research Model of Transdisciplinarity”. In Akçeşme, B., Baktir H. & Steele E. (2016). Interdisciplinarity, Multidisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity in Humanities. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 222-233.
Scientific Committee
Simos Grammenidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Titika Dimitroulia, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Nicola Dusi, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
George Floros, University of Cyprus
Panayiotis Kelandrias, Ionian University
Evangelos Kourdis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Duncan Large, University of East Anglia
Anastasia Parianou, Ionian University
Susan Petrilli, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro
Clíona Ní Ríordáin, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
Desirée Schyns, Ghent University
Peter Torop, University of Tartu
Federico Zanettin, Università degli Studi di Perugia
Deadlines:
Abstract submission deadline: 30.12.2018
Notification of acceptance:30.1.2019
Full-papers submission deadline: 30.5.2019
Publication of the volume: October 2019
Languages
English, French, Greek, Italian
Contact
For general inquiries and for article submission please contact the volume’s editors:
Titika Dimitroulia, tdimi@frl.auth.gr
Evangelos Kourdis, ekourdis@frl.auth.gr
The international conference Translation Beyond Human Languages and Cultures in Times of Ecological Crises welcomes abstract submissions for the event taking place on 12–13 November 2026 at Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, Türkiye. Researchers are invited to submit their proposals to beyondhumanconf@gmail.com. SUBMISSIONSEach paper presentation will be allotted 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for discussion.Submissions for individual presentations should include:- An abstract of no more than 300 words,- A short bionote including name, affiliation, and email address,- Up to five keywords indicating the subject, methodology, and theoretical framework(s).Submissions are open until 01 April 2026.WORKING LANGUAGESAll proposals must be submitted in French or English for peer review by the Scientific Committee. Interpreting between French and English may be offered depending on available resources. Questions and discussions during the conference may take place in both languages.KEYNOTE SPEAKERSMichael Cronin (Trinity College, Dublin) Kobus Marais (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein) Şebnem Susam-Saraeva (University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh)CONFERENCE FEESConference fees will be split into two categories: € 120 regular fee € 90 reduced fee for postgraduate studentsDetails regarding the conference will be shared in due course via the following link: https://avesis.yildiz.edu.tr/researchteamsite/biodemocraticpractices
The Department of Translation, Terminology and Interpreting Studies of the University of Malta, the Graduate Institute of Interpreting and Translation of Shanghai International Studies University and the Department of Theory of Translation and Comparative Linguistics of the National University of Uzbekistan are organizing an international conference in ‘Indirect Translation: A Two-Arched Bridge Between Cultures’ in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 15-17 April 2026. For further information see the call for papers at https://www.um.edu.mt/media/um/docs/faculties/arts/translation/CallforPapersTashkent2026_FinalUM.pdf
Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting UK and IrelandWe are delighted to announce that the 2026 APTIS conference will take place in Wales for the first time, being jointly hosted by Cardiff University and Swansea University. The conference will take place from 15-17 April 2026 in Cardiff, with an optional ‘cultural’ day in Swansea on Saturday 18 April. We welcome abstract submissions for traditional papers, book launches, workshops, and students’ flash talks. Please note that the deadline for proposal is 15th December 2025. For more information and to submit an abstract proposal, please go to our website: https://www.aptis-translation-interpreting.com/aptis-2026
Guest editors:Anna Strowe (University of Manchester)Richard Mansell (University of Exeter)Helle V. Dam (Aarhus University)This special issue focuses on the normative expectations around translators, including norms around translator identity, as well as around hiring or selection processes and understandings of competence or expertise. By applying the concept of norms to the area of translators and translatorship, we hope to connect conversations about the multiple intersecting systems of values that underpin those norms, often silently, ranging from beliefs about education, language skill, and qualification, to understandings of professionalism, economics, and translation itself, while continuing to explore the dimensions and qualities of translator identity and presentation. The norms themselves are at the centre of the topic, along with the values from which they emerge and with which they engage, but as with investigation of other types of norms, they must be extrapolated from available forms of data, for example texts by and about translators, or trends in hiring or training.As scholarship in translation studies has broadened, first from linguistic approaches to cultural and sociological approaches, and then to a focus on the translator, we have increasingly come to understand that we must view translation as a socially-situated practice or set of practices, carried out by agents whose behaviour and choices are influenced by a variety of external as well as internal factors. A large part of the focus has been on using this perspective to better understand the choices that are made in translating – that is, the specific textual decisions made by translators – but interest has also grown significantly in questions that move beyond textual choices and comparative textual analysis. There are significant threads of scholarship for example on the cultural or structural aspects of non-professional translation and interpreting (e.g. Antonini et al. 2017; Pérez-González and Susam-Saraeva 2012), the relationships between translation and activism (e.g. Boéri 2024; Gould and Tahmasebian 2020; Tymoczko 2010), and the impact of emerging technologies and digital spaces on perceptions of translatorship (e.g. Zhang et al. 2024), among many others.Norms have long been a productive tool for translation studies, but existing articulations and uses have focused on the translational norms that we understand as governing micro- and macro-level translation choices. Meylaerts (2008) discusses individual translators and their identities and profiles in relation to the norms of translation and the profession, following Simeoni (1998) in connecting these to Bourdieu’s notion of habitus. However, behaviour around translator identities and characteristics, such as hiring or self-presentation, can also be examined in terms of norms. In a recent article, Strowe (2024) suggests considering translator selection as norm-driven could help us better recognize the values and decisions around translator recruitment and deconstruct assumptions around translator choice and identity.These norms are reflected in patterns in hiring trends, the translation industry, job advertisements, and translators’ websites or blogs, for example, but they also inform a variety of aspects of how translatorship is constructed. The self-image and presentation or representation of translators is informed by beliefs about what responsibilities, tasks, and capacities are involved in being a translator, areas that intersect both with culturally constructed notions of what constitutes and delimits translation itself (see Tymoczko 2007) and with what forms of social, cultural, and legal understandings we have about various agents’ forms of responsibility for texts (see Bantinaki 2020; Pym 2011).The special issue will collect both empirical studies that explore areas related to translator norms, and articles exploring either the theorization of translator norms or the methodological possibilities of this kind of work. Potential questions to explore include (but are not limited to) the following:How might we theorize norms around translator identity, self-presentation, hiring etc.?What kinds of translator norms can be identified within the LSP industry or in other contexts in which translation is done?What differences are there in translator norms across different contexts or domains, and how do these differences affect practices of translation?How can we understand projections of translator image as a form of representation of translator norm? • How are translator norms changing in the face of developments in digital technology?What kinds of research methods facilitate the exploration of translator norms?This is an open call, and the editors particularly welcome proposals from researchers whose workintersects with translator identity or self-presentation;looks at industry expectations around translators and hiring practices;seeks to describe and delimit the spaces of human agency and identity around translation amidst the growing presence of AI.Submission Abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted by November 24 to Anna Strowe by email (anna.strowe@manchester.ac.uk). Once invited to do so by the editors, selected authors will be asked to submit an article of between 7000 and 8000 words, including references, through the journal’s online portal no later than May 30, 2026.A full schedule of dates plus the bibliography is available here: https://benjamins.com/series/ts/callforpapers.pdf
Life Writing and Translation Thursday 18 – Friday 19 June 2026 University of Geneva Abstract of no more than 250 words (bibliography excluded) in English or French are now invited and should be submitted to lifewritingtranslation@unige.ch by 16 November 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be distributed at the beginning of February 2026. Please find more information on abstracts on the Conference website: https://www.humanmovement.cam.ac.uk/events/translating-conflict-and-refuge-language-displacement-and-politics-representation
