The History and Translation Network (HTN) was established in 2021 in response to the increasing significance of and interest in translation and interpreting history, both in translation and interpreting studies and historical studies (cf. “Manifesto”). The network has since connected a global community of scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who share the belief that acts of translation and interpreting are pivotal in the making of history and that considering their historical context is essential in comprehending said activities. One of its main objectives is to foster inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration and facilitate dialogue on the methodological and conceptual aspects of our research endeavors through conferences and other events. This vision was affirmed through the inaugural HTN conference held in Tallinn, Estonia, in May 2022 and the subsequent online follow-up event in May 2023, both of which highlighted the evident demand for such collaborative platforms.
The HTN 2024 Graz sets out to continue the exchange started in these two events. Embracing the thematic focus of “History – Translation – Politics,” this conference foregrounds the understanding of translation and interpreting as historically and politically contextualized activities that can potentially bring about cultural and social transfer and transformation. It probes the influence of politics on these activities while also exploring how translation politics can act as a catalyst for change within specific settings. Building upon the premise that translation is not only an essential element of historical analysis but also a historically situated practice, we welcome submissions that delve into the roles of translators, interpreters, and other pertinent institutions as agents or subjects of transformation. Additionally, we invite contributions that investigate instances of translation and interpreting that both instigate modifications within prevailing economic, political, religious, or social power dynamics and face constraints imposed by them, as well as contributions discussing the methodological added value of translation/interpreting as a lens into history.
Time and Place
The conference will take place on 11-14 September 2024 at the University of Graz, Austria.
Invited speakers:
Carla Mereu Keating (University of Bristol)
E. Natalie Rothman (University of Toronto Scarborough)
Vicente Rafael (University of Washington)
Submissions:
We accept individual papers as well as panel proposals.
Individual paper proposals should be approx. 300 words long.
If you are interested in organising a thematic panel involving 3-4 papers, please submit a preliminary panel proposal with the topic of the panel and a brief description (ca 100 words). If the preliminary proposal is accepted, we will ask a full panel proposal with title, panel description (ca 200 words), panelists and their paper’s proposal (approx. 300 words each).
Individual paper proposals and full panel proposals should be accompanied by short bios (ca 100 words) of the presenters.
Please send all proposals to the email address HTN2024@uni-graz.at, with the keyword “HTN-abstract” or “HTN-panels” on the subject line.
Deadlines:
Preliminary panel proposals: 1 December 2023
Acceptance of preliminary panel proposal: 15 January 2024
Full panel proposal (incl. abstracts for all papers): 1 February 2024
Individual paper proposal: 1 February 2024
Acceptance of individual paper proposals and full panel proposals: 31 March 2024
Registration: 15 May – 15 July 2024
Organizers:
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The conference is organized by the History and Translation Network and the Department of Translation Studies of the University of Graz. Organizing committee: |
Scientific committee: |
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Pekka Kujamäki Hanna Blum Nadja Grbic Gernot Hebenstreit Rafael Schögler Daniele Monticelli Christopher Rundle |
Anne Lange (Tallinn) Chris Rundle (Bologna) Daniele Monticelli (Tallinn) Hephzibah Israel (Edinburgh) Hilary Footitt (Reading) Ine Van linthout (Brussels) Iryna Odrekhivska (Lviv) Larisa Schippel (Vienna) Lieven D’hulst (Leuven) Magda Heydel (Kraków) Michael Schreiber (Mainz) Michele Troy (Hartford) Michele Sisto (Pescara) Outi Paloposki (Turku) Paul Cohen (Toronto) Pekka Kujamäki (Graz) Sanja Perovic (Kings College) Vicente Rafael (Washington) |
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
