Call for papers: TRANSLATION AND THE FORMATION OF COLLECTIVITIES

Special issue of ‘Translation in Society’
guest editors: Dilek Dizdar & Tomasz Rozmysłowicz

The social world is not only a precondition for but itself a product of translation processes, as research into the role of translation in the construction of national or ethnic communities has shown (for example Brisset 1996; Cronin 1996; Venuti 1998; Kristmannsson 2005; Dizdar/Gipper/Schreiber 2015). However, translation – used here as an umbrella term for both translation and interpreting – plays an active part in the emergence of many more types of collectivities in various spheres of social life and on different levels of social organization: scientific communities (Stichweh 1984: 434), political movements (Tymoczko 2000; Baker 2013), religious gatherings (Hokkanen 2012), or multilingual dinner parties. How does translation contribute to the formation of these social entities? Are there identifiable general mechanisms and conditions at work? How does this contribution differ across social contexts, time, and space? And how can we conceptualize it? This special issue invites contributions that focus on different forms and contexts in which translation enables and shapes the emergence of groups, movements and communities of any size, form and duration and/or plays a role in moving or dissolving borders between already established collectivities. Such a broad view also allows for the integration of questions which are of increasing academic and societal relevance: translation’s involvement in processes of bordering, inclusion and exclusion, participation, and other related issues. At the same time, this makes it possible to establish a basis for comparing different social configurations in terms of the impact of translation: for instance, how can the impact of translation on nation-building processes be compared to its role in the construction of scientific communities or political movements?

With a thematic focus at the intersection of sociology and translation studies, this special issue aims to contribute to a dialogue between the two disciplines. It invites papers with a focus on theory and methodology as well as empirical contributions.

For more information, please find the call for papers here: <https://www.benjamins.com/series/tris/callforpapers.pdf>.
More information about the journal ‘Translation in Society’ at https://www.benjamins.com/catalog/tris.