Call for Papers
NORMATIVITY AND RESILIENCE
in Translation and Culture
27 – 29 May 2019
Norms can be broadly defined as some kind of protection from change, a prescribed standard whose violation
involves distortion and deformation, a transformation into something which the normal thing is not. Though
derived from carpentry, the art of construction of rigid objects (norma is the Latin word for carpenter's square),
normativity has become a measure of things more evanescent than furniture – of ethical, social, aesthetic or
political judgements, of certain cultural norms which may seem to be universal only given that they survive the
test of being transferred, or translated, to other cultures. If, as Yuri Lotman noted in his Universe of the Mind
(1990), “the elementary act of thinking is translation” (143), then translation can be viewed as a crucial activity
involved in the formation of cultures along with their concepts, conceptualizations and norms. However, since
translation, as a kind of dialogue, is inevitably asymmetrical and assumes only “a degree invariancy” (143), this
degree seems to be an effect of culture’s resilience to the inadequacy and change involved in any kind of
translation. Paradoxically, it is the change, the rupturing of the norm in and through translation which is a
constitutive element of normativity. This “rupturing of the norm,” wrote Lotman, “is what builds up the image of
the truly essential but unrealized norm” (90). Thus normativity is both a matter of representation and something
which may be called a feature of the world, the latter possibility figuring as an unrealizable effect of broadly
understood translation which simultaneously protects and disrupts it. Looking at the ideas of norm and
normativity in culture in the context of translation we would like to think about various locations of what may be
called normative ‘ought’ statements, sometimes implicitly dictating our choices of words and ideas; the quiet
demands of discourse to retain norms despite various perturbations. The ‘ought’ statements of normativity, of
retaining the norm, seem to be an important aspect of management of resistance whose significant function is,
as Judith Butler claims in Vulnerability in Resistance, concealment of destitution (8). The ‘ought’ of resilience has
become not only the desired good of neoliberalism, but also, as she puts it, “a force to be reckoned within the
realm of hegemonic ethics of and truths about the self” (53). One of the tasks of the conference is to attempt, at
least provisionally, to locate the whereabouts of such ‘ought’ statements, the teachings of imaginary security
and certainty consisting in the ability of jumping into prior shape.
We invite papers and presentations approaching the issues of translation, normativity and resilience from
possibly broadest theoretical and methodological perspectives such as Translation Studies, Linguistics, Literary
Criticism, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Feminist and Gender Studies, Queer Theory, Philosophy, Sociology,
History of Ideas, Colonial and Postcolonial Studies ..., realizing that a strictly single-disciplinary approach is
nowadays hardly thinkable. We suggest the following, broad, thematic suggestions as a map showing a few
orientation points of the conference:
resilience as adaptation
norm and nature
normativity and originality
normativity and creativity
normalcy and creativity
normative translation
normativity and ethics
norm and its others
language of the norm
normativity and meaning
limits of normativity
normal / accepted
rules / norms / idiosyncrasy
rules / norms / transgressions
adherence / infringement / violation
resilience / conformity
resilience / immunity
resilience vs. resistance
normative modification
resilience and standardization
resilience and empowerment
resilience and retaliation
norm as domination
resilience and change
prescriptive vs. normative
normality and monstrosity
resilience and adaptability
resilience and plasticity
resilience as vulnerability
uncertainty and norm
control and resilience
translation and adaptation
translation and change
cultures in translation
resilience as recovery
normativity, resilience, survival
Keynote speakers:
Professor Tomasz Basiuk, University of Warsaw
Professor Luise von Flotow, University of Ottawa
Professor Xuanmin Luo, Guangxi University and Tsinghua University
Professor David Malcolm, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Proposals for 20-minute papers (ca 250 words) should be sent to normativity@swps.edu.pl by 10 March 2019.
We also encourage panel proposals comprised of 3 to 4 papers, and an additional 100-150 words explaining
how they are interlinked in addressing the panel theme.
Notification of acceptance will be sent by 15 March 2019.
The deadline for registration and payment of the conference fee: 15 April 2019.
Participants will be invited to submit extended versions of their presentations to be published in an edited
volume.
The conference fee is 590 PLN | 140 EUR | 160 USD for all participants.
Conference website: www.swps.edu.pl/normativity
Conference organizers:
Dr. Agnieszka Pantuchowicz
Dr. Anna Warso
Dr. Emma Oki
Dr. Paulina Grzęda
Katarzyna Bagniewska
Piotr Kosiński
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
APTIS25 Online Conference at the UCL Centre for Translation Studies (3–4 November 2025) “Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?” The UCL Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) is looking forward to hosting the APTIS25 online conference. The APTIS25 conference (“Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?”) will take place on 3–4 November 2025 via Zoom Webinar. We encourage submissions from both academic and industry speakers. Please see our Call for Contributions as well as the Types of Contributions section to know more about the contributions that APTIS25 will be welcoming. If you would like to contribute to APTIS25 by presenting a talk or a roundtable, please visit the Submit a Proposal section, where you will find the link to send your abstract. Please kindly refer to the Key Dates to know more about submission and registration deadlines. https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/aptis25ucl
APTIS25 Online Conference at the UCL Centre for Translation Studies (3–4 November 2025)“Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?”The UCL Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) is looking forward to hosting the APTIS25 online conference. The APTIS25 conference (“Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?”) will take place on 3–4 November 2025 via Zoom Webinar.We encourage submissions from both academic and industry speakers. Please see our Call for Contributions as well as the Types of Contributions section to know more about the contributions that APTIS25 will be welcoming. If you would like to contribute to APTIS25 by presenting a talk or a roundtable, please visit the Submit a Proposal section, where you will find the link to send your abstract.Please kindly refer to the Key Dates to know more about submission and registration deadlines.https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/aptis25ucl
Hieronymus is the first Croatian journal dedicated exclusively to publishing research and professional articles in the field of translation studies and terminology. The journal has the following key goals: (1) to promote translation studies and terminology in Croatia and the broader region, where these two disciplines are not always recognized; and (2) to enhance local researchers’ visibility in the international translation studies community. For the Research Section of the journal, we welcome empirical studies with clear goals and well-defined methodology in any area of translation studies or terminology. In addition, papers presenting and discussing any area of professional translation or terminological practice are invited for the Professional section. Contributions by early career researchers (pre-Ph.D. or recently obtaining a Ph.D.) as well as young professionals are gladly accepted. In both sections of the journal, contributors from Croatia and the broader region are particularly welcome, in line with the journal’s mission outlined above. The preferred languages are English and Croatian. We accept submissions throughout the year, but for consideration in issue 12 (to be published in December 2025), submissions need to be sent by 30 March 2025 at the latest. Submissions will first be considered by the Editorial Team and, if they pass this initial screening, they will be forwarded for a double-blind peer review. Authors whose papers are accepted for publication must certify that their work has not been previously published. All papers are published in Open Access under the Creative Commons 4.0 open license. For information on citation style and formatting, please consult our Contributors page and Submission Guidelines. Please send your contributions to the following addresses: knikoli@ffzg.unizg.hr sveselic@ffzg.unizg.hr If you have any queries regarding this call, please do not hesitate to contact us
