Calls for papers

Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Dr. Sophie Fuggle, Nottingham Trent University, Dr. Amina Zarzi, University of Oxford. 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of Jules Verne’s Le Tour du monde en 80 jours (Around the World in 80 Days), first published in book form in 1873. While Verne’s text remains celebrated for its depiction of swashbuckling adventure (as evidenced in a recent adaptation for British television), the Western, colonial and racist bias of this work appear obvious in hindsight. Verne’s 19th century depiction of travel, participation and agency depended on various processes of inclusion and exclusion both within and beyond the métropole which took place in a context of racialised colonisation in these realms. Such considerations provide a springboard for the theme of this year’s conference, which focuses on questions encompassing travel writing, inclusion and exclusion in voluntary, forced, temporary and permanent migration as expressed in Francophone texts across a variety of time periods. How have depictions of travel mutated since the period in which Verne was writing? Which legacies of inclusion and exclusion from colonial periods remain, or have reversed, in 21st century postcolonial writing? How has the writing of travel contributed to the formation of discourses of knowledge, such as those now being explored under the banner of the medical humanities? This is an interdisciplinary call for papers, inviting contributions from researchers working across all fields of languages, cultures and societies. We welcome proposals for papers and panels on topics including, but not limited to: Travel writing and transport Disability and travel Travel and time  Bodily inclusion/exclusion in travel Travel and medical considerations/health Travel and trauma Geographical inclusion/exclusion Travel, writing, and genre  Transnational discovery Travel and language Please send abstracts of 250-300 words plus 50-100 words of biography to Conference Secretary, Dr. Christopher Hogarth (SFPS2023@yahoo.com). Papers can be in English or French. The deadline for receipt of abstracts is: 16 July 2023. This year’s conference will be held in person  The Society is committed to providing support for Early Career Researchers and will hold a dedicated ECR event in the conference programme, details of which will be available at a later stage. For more information, click here

The early modern period was a time of burgeoning diplomatic activity on the European continent characterized by the spread of resident diplomacy and the appearance of peace congresses. Linguistic practices were changing dramatically as well, including Latin, German and Italian progressively overshadowed by French as a pan-European medium of diplomacy. All these developments had a considerable impact on translation in diplomacy, affecting its functioning and role in various ways: translation departments were formed or expanded and redesigned, and the need to train translators in order to increase efficiency of foreign policy began to be felt by major powers. This eventually resulted in the foundation of schools for would-be translators and diplomats, and the development of various practices such as the linguistic training of »giovanni de lingua« or »jeunes de langues«. These innovations allowed early modern diplomacy to cope, at least to a certain degree, with an important increase in diplomatic contacts which led to an ever-growing diplomatic correspondence. However, some of these initiatives, such as the foundation of specialized schools, have been short-lived and have not led to sustainable results. Living and working in a multilingual and multicultural environment, translators often were cultural brokers with hybrid cultural identities. We would like to adopt a transnational and interdisciplinary viewpoint and consider the subject on the basis of new primary sources in the broad context of the development of translation and the evolution of diplomacy in the early modern period. The questions which are of interest for the workshop include, but are not limited to the following: • Traditions and innovations in the organization of diplomatic translation services; • State and non-state actors and the formation of policies regarding translation in diplomacy; • The role of translation in diplomats’ careers; • Early modern institutions and practices for training translators and interpreters; • (Hybrid) Identities of interpreters and translators and their role as cultural brokers; • Lack of translating personnel and attempts to bypass such difficulties; • Accuracy of translations and problems resulting from translators’ incompetence in diplomacy; • Distrust of translators and interpreters, translation and secrecy in diplomacy, translators as negotiators; • Translation in diplomatic relations with non-European powers; • The role of translators in the formation of diplomatic, political and juridical terminology in vernacular languages. Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2023 For more information, click here    

We invite proposals for a special guest-edited issue of JoSTrans to be published in January 2026. JoSTrans, The Journal of Specialised Translation, is an electronic, openaccess peer-reviewed journal bringing non-literary translation issues tothe fore. Published bi-annually since 2004, it includes articles, reviews and streamed interviews by translation scholars and professionals. The journal is indexed with the main humanities bibliographies, including Scopus (Q1, CiteScore 4.2) and Web of Science/JCR (Q2, IF = 1.561). We publish two issues per year: a non-thematic issue and a special guest-edited issue. We invite proposals for a call which deals with any novel area or aspect of specialised translation which have not been covered yet by the journal (for previous special issues see http://jostrans.org/archive.php). In particular, we are interested in calls which address: • AI and translation/interpreting; • financial/business translation; • translation and politics / politics of translation; translation and Global North & Global South; • medical translation; • interpreting and specialised domains; • translation and diversity; • methodologies of researching specialised translation. The proposal should include: • a topic • a brief presentation of the topic • names of guest editors and their editing expertise • if you propose a closed call, please provide names of contributors and titles of papers. Please send your call to the editor-in-chief Łucja Biel at ed@jostrans.org with the subject line JoSTrans Call for calls Issue 45 by 1 November 2023. The decision will be communicated by the end of November 2023. For more information, click here

Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) and School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)   Nothing Happened: Translation Studies before James Holmes 9-10 November 2023   Venue: University College London (UCL), UK Keynote Speakers Prof Theo Hermans (UCL) Dr Hephzibah Israel (University of Edinburgh) Prof Daniele Monticelli (Tallinn University)   Call for Papers   Submission Deadline: 15 September 2023   Frequently rehearsed narratives of Translation Studies typically trace the origins of the discipline to James Holmes’s 1972 paper, ‘The Name and Nature of Translation Studies’, and suggest that little of interest happened prior to that date, or at least prior to the 1950s. Reflections on translation from earlier periods have been characterised as sterile, imprecise, or circular, or as taking place outside the bounds of academic or scientific endeavour. Teleological narratives of disciplinary progress and development have been widely reproduced and accepted. Several attempts have been made to foreground the fact that Translation Studies is far more diverse than its established representation as a Western scholarly tradition that began in the 1970s (e.g. van Doorslaer and Naajkens 2021; Hang and Wakabayashi 2016; Schippel and Zwischenberger 2016; Ceccherelli, Costantino and Diddi 2015), but – as Yves Gambier (2021) has rightly concluded – the field has yet to ‘acknowledge the fragmented nature of its origins, traditions and filiations.’ As Brian Baer (2020) has pointed out, the standard account of the discipline’s history constitutes a ‘mythhistory’, functioning to ‘supply a foundational narrative that helps a group of people to form a collective identity’, rather than to reflect the details of historical records more closely. Baer takes issue in particular with the geographical, even neo-imperialist, limitations of this foundational narrative, showing that extensive institutionally anchored translation and interpreting research was taking place in Eastern Europe from 1918 onwards. Other contestations, from other geographical perspectives, are also possible, as are challenges from within Western European or Anglo-American traditions. In this conference, we invite participants to explore the period in which ‘nothing happened’. We particularly encourage submissions from scholars working on Slavonic and East European languages, but we warmly welcome papers exploring any language or place. Contributions might address, but are not limited to, the following topics: Bibliographical research into writings on translation from ancient times to the mid-20th century Close readings of writings on translation from ancient times to the mid-20th century Comparative studies of widely read Translation Studies texts and texts from earlier periods, particularly from other geographical spaces or in other languages Reflections on processes of disciplinary formation and its conceptual mapping Reflections on the development, reinforcement, and challenging of textual canons Reflections on the functions of disciplinary narratives and the reasons for challenging them Historical studies of how ‘Translation Studies’ came into existence or was retrospectively affirmed Studies of institutional or geopolitical power dynamics and the consolidation of Translation Studies Transdisciplinary models and approaches to the historiography of Translation Studies The relevance of gender, race or language to canon formation or disciplinary formation The mutual influencing (or lack thereof) of translation-related disciplines or fields of inquiry across different national or regional spaces Organisers Prof. Kathryn Batchelor (Centre for Translation Studies UCL, UK) Assoc. Prof. Dr Iryna Odrekhivska (School of Slavonic and East European Studies UCL, UK and Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine) {imageshow sl=1 sc=1 /} Submissions Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 September 2023 All submissions should be made by email to k.batchelor@ucl.ac.uk and i.odrekhivska@ucl.ac.uk We welcome proposals for individual papers as well as for 3- or 4-person panels. For individual papers, please submit an abstract of max 250 words. For panel proposals, please submit a short rationale for the panel as a whole (approx 200 words) as well as abstracts for each individual paper (max 250 words per abstract). We will aim to send notifications of acceptance by 22 September 2023. Mode of attendance: We hope that the majority of speakers and participants will be able to attend in person. However, an online option will be available for those for whom this is not possible. Registration fees In-person attendance (includes refreshments and lunch on both days): £75 In-person attendance discounted rate (for students and unwaged): £50 Conference dinner on Thursday 9 November (optional): £40 Online attendance: free

This interdisciplinary conference, organized within the ambit of the EPISTRAN project, investigates the semiotic processes (verbal and nonverbal) involved in the transfer of information between different ‘epistemic systems’. Its focus are the transactions occurring between western science (the hegemonic knowledge of the globalized world, which purports to be objective, rational, and universal) and the various embedded, embodied and subjective forms of knowledge that have served as its Others in different times and places.Proposals for 20-minute papers (<250 words) should be sent by 1st September 2023 to email@epistran.org, accompanied by a short biosketch (<150 words). Results of the selection process will be announced by 15th September.

Call for Papers The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) poses new challenges for language mediators. As machine translation systems are making great strides and many language services have come to be supported or partially automated by AI, the job market for human translators and interpreters is being redefined. However, humans remain indispensable to the language service industry – not only because they coordinate and correct machine output, but also because they continue to have the upper hand in certain areas of language mediation. There is widespread agreement that the benefits of human work are particularly evident in language services that require special creativity, which applies, for instance, to the transfer of pithy advertising slogans from one linguistic and cultural context to another, or to literary translation. At the same time, such language services are also gaining in importance overall, as witnessed, for example, by numerous publications on transcreation from recent years. Although AI is now also permanently transforming free speech production through applications such as ChatGPT, machines have so far lacked the contextual understanding that is required for high-quality transfers of nuanced and form-conscious texts between languages and cultures. For the time being, one shortcoming of machine translation is the fact that texts can only be grasped at the sentence level, not in their overall context. Nevertheless, AI-based applications are extremely useful tools for humans, even in highly sophisticated types of language mediation. In fact, in many creative industries specializing in language mediation and text design, the use of text creation software is already commonplace. Post-editing is booming and is increasingly finding its way into translation studies research and translator training. The Department of Translation Studies at the University of Innsbruck takes these developments as a point of departure to reflect on potential tensions emerging between human and machine contributions to creative work in language mediation. On January 11 and 12, 2024, perspectives on the theory, practice or didactics of translation and interpreting are equally welcome to address questions that may include but are not limited to the following topics: creativity in translation or interpreting, enhancing creativity in the practice of language mediation, promoting creativity in translator and interpreter training, limits and potentials of neural machine translation with regard to creative work, impact of AI on processes of language mediation, examples of effects of AI use on translational creativity, transcreation and AI, AI and the language services market, impact of AI on job profiles for translators and interpreters, quality assurance in AI-assisted language services. Please send your abstracts (no more than 300 words including title) for a 20-minute presentation in German or English by May 31, 2023, at the latest, to katharina.walter@uibk.ac.at and marco.agnetta@uibk.ac.at. Presentations can be held in person or online. A publication of the conference papers is planned. We are looking forward to an exciting conference!

Le colloque international Le français parlé dans les médias a été inauguré en 2005 par des chercheurs et chercheuses du Département de français et d’italien de l’Université de Stockholm. Quatre éditions ont suivi : Québec 2007, Lausanne 2009, Montpellier 2013 et Birmingham 2015. Après une pause de près de huit ans, le colloque revient à Québec et est organisé par des membres du Laboratoire de recherche sur les communautés de pratiques langagières (COPRAL) et du Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur le français en usage au Québec (CRIFUQ), conjointement avec la Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d'expression française en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN).  Problématique Cette nouvelle édition du colloque aborde les enjeux sociaux reliés aux pratiques langagières dans les formats médiatiques oraux associés au divertissement et les relations complexes entre ces derniers et les publics auxquels ils s’adressent. Si la langue de l’information est relativement bien étudiée sous l’angle d’une norme endogène dans des régions de la francophonie telles que le Québec (p.ex. Cox 1998; Reinke 2005; Martel et al. 2010; Chalier 2018, 2021, ou encore Remysen 2010 pour une perspective aménagiste), on ne peut pas dire la même chose des formats médiatiques oraux associés au divertissement qui se caractérisent par une plus grande diversité de pratiques langagières. D’un côté, on y observe des productions où le poids de la norme standard, souvent associée au français des Parisiens cultivés, continue à se faire sentir. C’est notamment le cas des films doublés où des productions dans un français « normatif » (terme employé par le milieu) sont encore la règle, et ceci dans plusieurs régions de la francophonie, tout en faisant réagir certaines personnes qui souhaiteraient plutôt reconnaître leur propre culture dans leurs produits (Reinke et Ostiguy 2019; Reinke et al. 2023). De l’autre côté, certaines productions semblent laisser libre cours aux pratiques non standardisées, par exemple les émissions de téléréalité, ce qui fait également réagir. À titre d’exemple, une étude récente à propos de l’émission de téléréalité québécoise Occupation double démontre que les pratiques langagières des candidates et candidats qui s’écartent de la norme standard sont l’objet de vifs discours épilinguistiques dans la sphère médiatique et entraînent chez les participantes et participants un sentiment de honte, voire d’insécurité linguistique (Blais et Reinke 2022). Quels que soient les choix langagiers faits par les équipes de production, ils ne sont pas sans conséquences sociales : le choix du français « normatif » laisse entendre que les autres variétés de français ne méritent pas d’être entendues en ondes; celui d’un français socialement ou géographiquement plus marqué, risque de provoquer des réactions négatives d’une partie du public. L’objectif de ce colloque est de réunir des chercheuses et chercheurs qui s’intéressent aux français parlés dans les formats médiatiques oraux associés au divertissement, p. ex. talk-shows, téléréalités, téléséries, téléthéâtre, balados, spectacles d’humour, cinéma (incluant le doublage), vidéos diffusés sur des plateformes numériques comme YouTube. L’angle privilégié est la description des pratiques langagières non standardisées et des attitudes et des représentations entretenues à leur endroit. Nous voulons notamment nous pencher sur des questions telles que : Dans quelle mesure les formats médiatiques oraux associés au divertissement reflètent-ils toute la diversité langagière observée dans la communauté? En particulier, quels traits du français non standardisé, du contact de langues ou quels phénomènes relevant du plurilinguisme telle l’alternance codique sont jugés acceptables et lesquels ne le sont pas? Est-ce que certaines pratiques sont propres à un ou à des formats? Est-ce qu’on observe des différences entre les médias privés et publics? Dans quelle mesure certaines pratiques langagières sont-elles, selon les formats, différentes d’une communauté à l’autre? Comment certaines pratiques langagières non standardisées sont-elles reçues par les publics en fonction des formats? Quels effets sont engendrés par l’utilisation de certaines formes ou pratiques non conformes à la norme standard? En quoi les pratiques langagières dans les formats médiatiques oraux associés au divertissement nous renseignent-elles sur les attitudes qu’une communauté entretient par rapport aux variétés de langue? Quelles sont les attitudes des diffuseurs à l’endroit de la langue utilisée sur leurs ondes et quels rapports ces attitudes entretiennent-elles avec les discours ambiants qui circulent à propos de la langue? Comment les pratiques langagières non standardisées sont-elles gérées, de façon implicite ou explicite, dans les productions? Existe-t-il des politiques en vue d’encadrer ces pratiques linguistiques? Quels sont les facteurs de régulation linguistique qui orientent les pratiques langagières non standardisées, lorsqu’elles sont utilisées dans des formats médiatiques oraux? Ces pratiques font-elles l’objet de commentaires explicites de la part des personnes intervenant dans le cadre d’une même émission, par exemple? Quelle est la part de l’accommodation linguistique dans de tels contextes? Les productions associées au divertissement contribuent-elles à légitimer l’usage des variétés non standardisées? Si oui, comment? Quels sont les enjeux épistémologiques, éthiques et méthodologiques de l’étude des pratiques, des attitudes et des représentations dans le contexte des formats médiatiques oraux associés au divertissement? Envoi d'une proposition de communication Ce colloque s’adresse aux chercheuses et chercheurs incluant les étudiantes et les étudiants aux cycles supérieurs en sciences du langage, mais aussi d’autres disciplines concernées par les thèmes proposés, telles que la traductologie, les sciences de la communication ou les études cinématographiques. Bien que le colloque soit axé sur le français, des propositions portant sur d’autres langues pluricentriques seront considérées. La langue du colloque est cependant le français. Le colloque se tiendra en présence, mais des accommodements sont possibles si des circonstances exceptionnelles empêchent le déplacement. Nous invitons les personnes dont les travaux touchent l’une ou l’autre des questions soulevées à présenter une proposition de communication d’au plus 2 500 caractères (espaces comprises), d’ici le 30 juin 2023, à l’adresse électronique suivante : copral@ulaval.ca. Les réponses aux propositions seront connues au début de septembre 2023. Il est prévu de publier certaines contributions après sélection du comité scientifique.

The practice of mediated or indirect translation has a long-standing history and for centuries a large corpus of literature – both literary and technical has been made available to a much wider audience through translation from an intermediary language. Yet, translation scholars have traditionally paid little attention to the concept of mediated or indirect translation regarding it as a poor quality and second-rate form of translation. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the concept of indirect translation grew in popularity and became the focus of linguistic research. The role of mediated translation is pivotal since it enables to disseminate authors’ voices from and to every stretch of the globe. Nowadays, due to globalization, the practice of indirect translation is widely applied in cross-cultural communication. The majority of international organizations adopt it, where a large number of working languages often results in drafting documents via the linguae francae - English these days or some other mediating languages. The main aim of the conference is to provide a platform for discussion on a broad spectrum of issues pertaining to the concept of mediated translation. We invite specialists in the areas of literature, linguistics, translation studies, pedagogy as well as cultural studies to participate in the event. We are open to a wide range of approaches and would welcome researchers specializing in various types of discourse – from literary, historical, social and political discourse, to specialist, professional and other. This conference aims to address a multiplicity of issues, including, but not limited to the following: Literary TranslationTranslation of Scientific Literature Textbook TranslationMachine and Audio-Visual Translation Conference Interpreting Subtitling and dubbingLocalization We hope that the conference will offer the opportunity to examine the latest findings in the field, as well as share ideas, inspirations and methodological approaches, with a view to contributing to the continuous development of the broad area of Translation Studies.  Deadline for abstracts: 1 June 2023 For more information, click here

Amid a massive wave of digitisation and the development of digital methods, many millions of pages from periodicals have recently begun to become truly accessible to scholarship, establishing an archival foundation for wide-ranging research questions which had previously been difficult to ask, and nearly impossible to answer. An upsurge of scholarly interest in periodicals, magazines, newspapers and reviews has resulted. However, even as research has been decisively reconfigured, the numerous acts of direct and indirect cultural translation that composed and defined periodicals have remained underexplored. Such neglect ignores the centrality of translated content to the cultural impact of periodicals, and to the generation and (re)composition of publishable matter. This neglect is even more striking for para-literary texts; that is, commercial, popular, or genre fiction, serialised fiction, or criticism which exert tremendous cultural force but generally remains understudied. This thematic issue of Perspectives attempts to turn the page on this double hiatus, forging links between translation and periodical studies in order to examine para-literary periodical translations. The issue particularly hopes to bring together a series of papers that proceed from focused case studies to broader methodological and conceptual conversations. Its aim is to consider a range of approaches on a wide cross-section of languages and periods; seizing on the momentum of the transnational and medial turn, its specific interest is in (1) defining periodicals as transnational print media ecologies to examine their interaction with other media forms, as well as the materiality of publishing translations in periods of scissors-and-paste journalism and the use of syndicated content; (2) considering the sociability and complexly multiple authorship, in particular in regard to translation, that is key to understand the periodical’s dynamics within a wider web of social institutions; and (3) investigating translation in low- and middle-brow periodicals that make up the bulk of periodical output. The key question which this volume seeks to ponder is whether periodical translation can be argued to have distinct qualities that distinguish the practice from other forms of translation. Suggested topics for papers include: theoretical contributions, defining translation in periodicals and sharpening terminology methodological contributions, in particular focusing on Digital Humanities tools for Translation Studies research transnational networks and periodicals the limits of the transnational paradigm translation as cultural mediation in periodicals visual analyses of translation in periodicals in/visibility of translation and translators in periodicals migrant/diaspora periodicals translation in children’s magazines archival examinations of editorial practices sociology of translation, identifying translators and other actors involved in periodical publishing translators’ periodicals and translation discourse in periodicals translational and localization practices of comics transnational periodicals as furnishers of content for local or regional periodicals syndicated fiction readers’ responses to translation (readers’ letters etc.) Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2023 For more information, click here

Vulnerability is often defined as “being at increased risk of harm or having reduced capacity or power to protect one’s interests” (Mackenzie 2013, 34). Vulnerable people are considered as such because of disparities in physical, economic, social, and health status when compared with the dominant population (Rukmana 2014) which make them more prone to situations of neediness, dependence, victimhood, or helplessness, and more in need of “special safeguards, supports, or services to protect them or enable them to protect themselves” (Scully 2013, 205). Along these lines, as Mackenzie (2013, 34) posits, some authors study the notion of “vulnerability” in contrast to the concept of “autonomy” by associating the latter with “ideals of substantive independence and self-determination.” Similarly, another conception of vulnerability is linked to a population’s access to social protections afforded by the State—the weaker these protections, and the more difficulty a population has in accessing them, the more vulnerable the population becomes (Castel 1995). Castel argues that vulnerability is not synonymous with exclusion from a dominant population, but rather a state which occurs through the gradual disaffiliation of individuals and populations from a state of dominance through the erosion of protections. Considering these definitions, some of the vulnerable populations identified in relevant literature are children (Bagattini 2019); people with disabilities (Scully 2013); people with mental illnesses (Atkinson 2007); patients with dementia, elderly people, refugees and asylum seekers (Strokosch & Osborne 2016; Grubb & Frederiksen 2022). Mackenzie, Rogers and Dodds (2013) posit that, as social and affective beings, we are emotionally and psychologically vulnerable to others in myriad ways: to loss and grief; to neglect, abuse, and lack of care; to rejection, ostracism, and humiliation. As sociopolitical beings, when our capacities for participation (in various parts of our lives) are restricted, we are vulnerable to exploitation, manipulation, oppression, political violence, and rights abuses (Strokosch & Osborne 2016; Fleming & Osborne 2019). In the context of social-ecological systems, vulnerability is usually defined as susceptibility to being harmed (Adger 2006) when confronted with the impact of the environment on our actions and well-being. Moreover, there are crises, such as a pandemic or a natural disaster, that reinforce and amplify some of the pre-existing inequalities in groups already presenting heightened vulnerability to economic and social hardship (intersectional vulnerabilities). All these different definitions and nuanced perspectives suggest that the study of vulnerability and of vulnerable populations involves the examination of complex notions whose implications are intertwined with a specific time and space and with a specific context. In the same vein, there is no binary split between vulnerable and non-vulnerable populations, rather, there are gradual degradations and multiple zones of vulnerability into which a population or individual might fall. Consequently, one may argue that the notion of vulnerability is not one that inherently applies to an individual or population: in other words, the notion of vulnerability is dependent on a particular time and place. Based on the same dependencies, language can also engender vulnerability. For example, individuals with limited capacity in the dominant language of a given space (country, region, city, organisation) can be described as vulnerable. Whilst it is true that even citizens who speak the dominant language can be considered as vulnerable people, not speaking the dominant language of a given space places the individual in a state of heightened vulnerability when defending their cause (in courts or police stations), conveying their health issues (healthcare), or accessing education. Language can also create vulnerabilities for otherwise dominant populations: in the context of a crisis (be it an armed conflict, a natural disaster or a pandemic) local citizens often face linguistic and cultural barriers when accessing the aid offered by international humanitarian organisations. In order to mitigate language-engendered vulnerability, interpreters are recruited both by national public services to work with vulnerable populations in different contexts: with migrant children (Sultanic 2022); people with mental health issues (Bot 2008); asylum seekers (Määttä, Puumala & Ylikomi 2021); or refugees (González Campanella 2022), among others. International organisations also recruit interpreters to provide aid to populations who find themselves in vulnerable situations in their own country as a consequence of a crisis, such as the ICRC (International Commission of the Red Cross) (Kherbiche 2009; Delgado Luchner & Kherbiche 2018) the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) (Todorova 2016, 2017, 2019); MSF (Médecins sans frontières, Doctors without Borders); or the United Nations, with its human rights missions (Ruiz Rosendo, Barghout & Martin 2021), among others. Furthermore, international organisations, such as the United Nations and others, host fora allowing vulnerable populations to speak directly to the organisation or through NGOs, such as at the UN Human Rights Council or Treaty Bodies, for which interpreters are also recruited. Against this backdrop, this special issue will showcase the need for addressing and foregrounding language and cultural issues, with a particular focus on interpreters, in the discussion of the challenges faced by people in situations of vulnerability in different contexts and settings. Additionally, this special issue will show that more research is needed to shed light on aspects that further complicate the issues stemming from language-engendered asymmetrical power relations between vulnerable and dominant populations within a given time and space. Just. Journal of Language Rights and Minorities, Revista de Drets Lingüístics i Minories is seeking submissions for a special monographic issue on the topic of interpreting for vulnerable populations. The issue aspires to drive the debate on the challenges that interpreters face when working with vulnerable populations and communities in different contexts and settings, their positionality and the role(s) they adopt as agents of communication. Researchers are invited to submit articles in English, Spanish or Catalan. Papers are expected to represent research across a wide range of disciplines, as well as inter- and transdisciplinary studies. It is our belief that more interdisciplinary discussion among scholars from translation studies, social sciences, anthropology, political sciences, development studies, and natural sciences, among other fields, is needed. We welcome any article that contributes to our understanding of interpreting for vulnerable populations. In preparing their submission, which should focus principally on the linguistic and interpreting aspects of the topic in question, contributors may wish to consider and address the following guiding questions: Who are vulnerable populations, particularly when viewed from a linguistic and cultural standpoint? How does the researcher’s positionality impact the study of vulnerable populations?  Is vulnerability a fixed characteristic, or a shifting and relative aspect of positionality? How does vulnerability interact with other elements of these populations’ positionalities? How do researchers manage their positionality when researching vulnerable populations? Is vulnerability expressed in the context of asymmetrical power relations? If so, how? What is the difference between a vulnerable population and a vulnerable individual? What characterises “interpreting for vulnerable populations”?  What is the positionality of interpreters working for vulnerable populations, particularly in terms of training (formal or otherwise, including training through membership of a community of practice and learning by doing) and experience? Where and in what contexts do interpreters work for vulnerable populations? (PSI contexts; crisis, humanitarian and conflict-related scenarios; (international) conferences or human rights fora) What languages (signed and spoken) are most often represented? Can, and should, a single paradigm represent “interpreting for vulnerable populations”?  What existing fields address or have addressed vulnerable populations? How should future studies address this topic? What are the common challenges and difficulties faced by non-vulnerable users and interpreters when working with vulnerable populations in different settings? To what extent could interpreters help vulnerable populations to respond to vulnerability by promoting autonomy, be it linguistic or otherwise?   Just. Journal of Language Rights & Minorities, Revista de Drets Lingüístics i Minories is a journal dedicated to disseminating scholarship on the protection, enforcement, and promotion of the rights of linguistic minorities as well as related themes arising from the confluence of language, the social dynamics of dominance and oppression, and the law. Interested authors are invited to send their expression of interest to the guest editors: Lucía Ruiz Rosendo (lucia.ruiz@unige.ch) and Conor Martin (conor.martin@unige.ch) by 15th May 2023. They are also invited to send full manuscripts to them by 1st November 2023. A full manuscript should be between 6000 and 8000 words in length (exclusive of abstract and references but including footnotes). Every manuscript will be submitted to a double-blind peer review that includes at least two referees. Please include a brief bionote about the authors and their affiliations in a separate file. All abstracts and manuscripts should use the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) for both citation (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html) and drafting. A summary of the drafting CMS guidelines is available in Just’s author guidelines (https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/JUST/about/submissions). The publication of this special issue will adhere to the following editorial timeline: Submission of full manuscripts 1 November 2023 Comments to authors (peer-review) 15 December 2023 Final versions of papers 31 January 2024 Decision to authors 15 February 2024 Publication of special issue April 2024 References Adger, W. Neil. 2006. “Vulnerability.” Global environmental change 16: 268–281. Atkinson, Jacqueline M. 2007. “Protecting or empowering the vulnerable? Mental illness, communication and the research process.” Research Ethics Review 3 (4): 134–138. Bagattini, Alexander. 2019. “Children’s well-being and vulnerability.” Ethics and Social Welfare 13 (3): 211–215. Bot, Hanneke. 2018. “Interpreting for vulnerable people–Cooperation between professionals.” Current Trends in Translation Teaching and Learning 5: 47–70. Castel, Robert. 1995. Les metamorphoses de la question sociale. Paris: Gallimard. Delgado Luchner, Carmen & Leila Kherbiche. 2018. “Without fear or favour? The positionality of ICRC and UNHCR interpreters in the humanitarian field.” Target 30 (3): 408–429. Flemig, Sarah S. & Stephen P. Osborne. 2019. “The dynamics of co-production in the context of social care personalisation: Testing theory and practice in a Scottish context.” Journal of Social Policy 48 (4): 671–697. González Campanella, Alejandra. 2022. “Trauma informs so much of what happens: Interpreting refugee-background clients in Aotearoa New Zealand.” Perspectives (first online). Grubb, Ane & Morten Frederiksen. 2022. “Speaking on behalf of the vulnerable? Voluntary translations of citizen needs to policy in community co-production.” Public Management Review 24 (12): 1894–1913. Kherbiche, Leila. 2009. Interprètes de l'ombre et du silence : entre cris et chuchotements (Réflexion sur l'interprétation dans un contexte humanitaire auprès du CICR). Unpublished MA thesis. University of Geneva. Mackenzie, Catriona. 2013. “The importance of relational autonomy and capabilities for an ethics of vulnerability.” In Vulnerability: New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy, edited by Catriona Mackenzie, Wendy Rogers & Susan Dodds, 33–59. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mackenzie, Catriona, Wendy Rogers & Susan Dodds, eds. 2013. Vulnerability: New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Määttä, Simo K., Eeva Puumala & Riitta Ylikomi. 2021. “Linguistic, psychological and epistemic vulnerability in asylum procedures: An interdisciplinary approach.” Discourse Studies 23 (1): 46–66. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, Alma Barghout & Conor Martin. 2021. “Interpreting on UN field missions: A training programme”. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 15 (4): 450–467. Rukmana, Desdén. 2014. “Vulnerable Populations.” In Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research, edited by Alex C. Michalos, 6989–6992. Dordrecht: Springer. Scully, Jackie L. 2013. “Disability and vulnerability: On bodies, dependence, and power.” In Vulnerability: New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy, edited by Catriona Mackenzie, Wendy Rogers & Susan Dodds, 204–221. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Strokosch, Kirsty & Stephen P. Osborne. 2016. “Asylum seekers and the co-production of public services: Understanding the implications for social inclusion and citizenship.” Journal of Social Policy 45 (4): 673–690. Sultanic, Indira. 2022. “Interpreting for vulnerable populations. Training and education of interpreters working with refugee children in the United States.” In Interpreter training in conflict and post-conflict scenarios, edited by Lucia Ruiz Rosendo & Marija Todorova, 114–128. London: Routledge. Todorova, Marija. 2016. “Interpreting conflict mediation in Kosovo and Macedonia.” Linguistica Antverpiensia15: 227–240. Todorova, Marija. 2017. “Interpreting at the border: “Shuttle interpreting” for the UNHCR.” Clina 3 (2): 115–129. Todorova, Marija. 2019. “Interpreting for refugees: Empathy and activism.” In Intercultural crisis communication: Translation, interpreting, and languages in local crises, edited by Federico Federici & Christophe Declercq, 153–173. London: Bloomsbury Academics.   For more details go the the journal page here. 

A unique opportunity exists for a professionally qualified academic with expertise in Translation Studies (Translation Technology) THE ROLE Salary Package: Senior Lecturer (Level C), from $134,645 to $154,843 p.a., plus 17% employer's superannuation and annual leave loading Appointment Type: Full time, continuing. Macquarie University (North Ryde) location A unique opportunity exists for a professionally qualified academic with expertise in Translation Studies (specialisation in Translation Technology) in the position of Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University. The successful candidate will actively engage in all aspects of the department including research, learning and teaching, supervision of research students (Masters to higher degree), administration and actively engage with other areas and colleagues across the Department and Faculty. In recognition of the diversity of skills and experience required, this position is offered for appointment within either the Teaching and Research or the Technical/Industry/Commercial Job Family. The Technical/Industry/Commercial Academic is a specialist academic role designed to be a bridge between industry/commercial enterprise and academia, and/or to accommodate hybrid technical/academic roles that are grounded in research or teaching. The academic component of this role may be teaching or research, coupled with activities that are not traditional academic work. More information about Macquarie University Academic Job Families at can be found here. About Us Macquarie is the university of pioneering minds. Globally recognised as one of Australia's leading research universities, Macquarie is a place where extraordinary new possibilities come to light. We've helped people to hear, introduced wireless internet technology to the world and broken through traditional boundaries by appointing Australia's first female vice-chancellor.Macquarie University's Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences builds on our aspiration to have the nation's first fully integrated Academic Health Sciences Centre under a university's leadership. It brings together the excellent work of medical and allied-health clinicians and researchers across the University and around the country, with unparalleled access to world-leading clinical resources and research facilities found only on our campus. Deadline for applications: 31 May 2023 For more information, click here

CREATIVITY AND TRANSLATIONIN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEInternational Conference at the Department of Translation StudiesJanuary 11-12, 2024, University of Innsbruck, Austria ORGANIZATION:Dr. Katharina Walter (katharina.walter@uibk.ac.at) andAss.-Prof. Dr. Marco Agnetta (marco.agnetta@uibk.ac.at) The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) poses new challenges for language mediators. As machine translation systems are making great strides and many language services have come to be supported or partially automated by AI, the job market for human translators and interpreters is being redefined. However, humans remain indispensable to the language service industry – not only because they coordinate and correct machine output, but also because they continue to have the upper hand in certain areas of language mediation. There is widespread agreement that the benefits of human work are particularly evident in language services that require special creativity, which applies, for instance, to the transfer of pithy advertising slogans from one linguistic and cultural context to another, or to literary translation. At the same time, such language services are also gaining in importance overall, as witnessed, for example, by numerous publications on transcreation from recent years. Although AI is now also permanently transforming free speech production through applications such as ChatGPT, machines have so far lacked the contextual understanding that is required for high-quality transfers of nuanced and form-conscious texts between languages and cultures. For the time being, one shortcoming of machine translation is the fact that texts can only be grasped at the sentence level, not in their overall context. Nevertheless, AI-based applications are extremely useful tools for humans, even in highly sophisticated types of language mediation. In fact, in many creative industries specializing in language mediation and text design, the use of text creation software is already commonplace. Post-editing is booming and is increasingly finding its way into translation studies research and translator training. The Department of Translation Studies at the University of Innsbruck takes these developments as a point of departure to reflect on potential tensions emerging between human and machine contributions to creative work in language mediation. On January 11 and 12, 2024, perspectives on the theory, practice or didactics of translation and interpreting are equally welcome to address questions that may include but are not limited to the following topics:• creativity in translation or interpreting,• enhancing creativity in the practice of language mediation,• promoting creativity in translator and interpreter training,• limits and potentials of neural machine translation with regard to creative work,• impact of AI on processes of language mediation,• examples of effects of AI use on translational creativity,• transcreation and AI,• AI and the language services market,• impact of AI on job profiles for translators and interpreters,• quality assurance in AI-assisted language services. Please send your abstracts (no more than 300 words including title) for a 20-minute presentation in German or English by May 31, 2023, at the latest, to katharina.walter@uibk.ac.at and marco.agnetta@uibk.ac.at. A publication of the conference papers is planned.We are looking forward to an exciting conference!