SBL 2011 Annual Meeting - San Francisco

The Power Turn in Translation Studies

11/21/20111:00 PM - 2:30 PM  

Room 3001 - Convention Center

Edwin Gentzler's lecture “The Power Turn in Translation Studies” follows those scholars who have taken the cultural turn, arguing that translations involve more than just a linguistic transfer, but also mediate between and among various power groups within a culture. It also discusses the subsequent results of that interaction, i.e., how translations have societal repercussions. The goal is to locate translational phenomena in social movements, showing how specific techniques and strategies are used to reinforce or destabilize particular systems of power. The paper draws upon ongoing research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst dealing with issues of translation and power, the findings of which are being published in a three-volume series: Translation and Power (UMass Press, 2002), Translation, Resistance, and Activism (UMass Press, 2010), and Translation and Revolution (forthcoming).