Roots of restlessness?
Translations in times of Disruption
Date: Saturday 10 May 2014
Venue: The Dorfman Centre, St. Peter’s College, Oxford
With the support of The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), The Modern European History Research Centre (MEHRC), and The Society for the Social History of Medicine.
We are delighted to announce that registration is now opened for our second annual conference entitled ‘Roots of Restlessness? Translations in Times of Disruption’. The full programme and abstracts are now also available.
The purpose of the meeting is to consider the relevance, role and impact of translations during periods of serious discontinuity and/or rupture such as wars, invasions, imperial crises, mass migration, natural disasters (including epidemics), and revolutions – be they political, social, cultural or technological. The works studied are literary and non-literary texts, images as well as records of verbal and non-verbal communications. There will be panels on: ‘Translating constitutions in the Age of Revolutions’, ‘Translating medical texts during epidemics and imperial crises’, ‘Interpreting for war and peace in the 19th century’, ‘Literary translation, radicalism and globalization’ and ‘Dynastic wars, post-revolutions, and resistance’.
We have a strong line-up of speakers, including Prof. Horst Dippel (University of Kassel, editor in chief of ‘Constitutions of the World from the late 18th Century to the Middle of the 19th Century’ ), Dr. Igor Mednikov (director of the Iberian Studies Centre at the Russian State University for the Humanities), Prof. Matthew C. Mirow (Florida International University), Prof. David Hook (Oxford), Dr. Graciela Iglesias Rogers (Oxford), Dr. Eduardo Posada-Carbó (Oxford), Dr. Erica Charters (Oxford), Edna Bonhomme (Princeton), Teodora Daniela Sechel (Karl Franzens Universität / Central European University), Dr. Jo Crow (Bristol), Dr. Alica Laspra-Rodríguez (Oviedo), Dr. Firat Oruc (Georgetown/Qatar), Tamara de Inés Antón (Manchester), Dr. Jennifer Rushworth (Oxford), Dr Emily A. Winkler (Oxford), Dr. Gemma Martínez-Garrido (Kent), Katarzyna Szymanska (Oxford) and Dr. Agustín Coletes-Blanco (Oviedo).
Please notice that the event will take place at the Dorfman Centre, St. Peter’s College, a warm and cosy garden pavilion that is approached via a pergola walk and a small cloister court. Internally the seminar room is lined completely in oak and cedar and is fitted with state-of-the-art audio visual equipment.
All are welcome. There is no conference fee, but registration is required. More details in the Registration page.
We very much look forward to seeing you in May!
For more information contact any of the coordinators: Dr. Graciela Iglesias Rogers (graciela.iglesiasrogers@history.ox.ac.uk) and/or Professor David Hook (david.hook@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk) and/or Dr. Jonathan Thacker (jonathan.thacker@merton.ox.ac.uk ).
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Sponsorship –
Modern European History Research Centre
We are delighted to announce that the Modern European History Research Centre (MEHRC), based in Oxford University’s History Faculty, has decided to join the list of sponsors of our upcoming conference “Roots of restlessness? Translations in Times of Disruption” (St. Peter’s College, 10 May 2014). The Call for Papers for both the conference and its opening session will close on 31st January (CFP for conference and CFP for session).
The MEHRC was set up in 1999 to generate new and exciting research projects in European and British history from the Renaissance to the present, to build research networks with institutes and universities in the UK, Europe and worldwide, to provide opportunities for research collaboration and facilities for visiting researchers, and to train new generations of research students in the field of Modern European and British History.
The Centre encourages international collaboration between research students through annual graduate workshops held in conjunction with the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Paris, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the Humboldt University, Berlin, and with Geneva University. It is supported by around forty leading historians at Oxford, from which it draws its management committee. This is headed by the Chair, Dr David Hopkin; Research Director, Dr Tom Buchanan and supported by the Administrator, Jane Cunning.
For more information on the MEHRC, visit their website: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/research/centre/mehrc.html
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A member of our network, Dr. Tom Kuhn, would like to let you know of the following:
Writing Brecht
Inaugural Symposium
Maplethorpe Seminar Room, St Hugh’s College, Oxford
Friday 15 November 2013
2pm-6pm
“Writing Brecht” is a new research project led by Dr Tom Kuhn and supported by the AHRC and the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, amongst others. It is concerned with the translation, edition and reception of the works of Bertolt Brecht in the English-speaking world.
Contributors to the symposium will include:
Professor Stephen Parker (Manchester)
– author of Brecht: A Literary Life (Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2014);
Dr David Barnett (Sussex)
– author of a forthcoming history of the Berliner Ensemble (CUP 2014) and editor of volumes in the project;
Professor Steve Giles (Nottingham)
– editor and translator of volumes of Brecht’s theoretical writings: Brecht on Theatre and Brecht on Performance (both Bloomsbury 2014);
Dr David Constantine (Oxford)
– poet and translator, working on a new edition of Brecht’s poems, with a taster volume of love poems due out in 2014 (with W.W. Norton);
Dr Tom Kuhn (Oxford)
– editor and translator of various volumes of Brecht’s writings, and Principal Investigator.
The symposium will draw together UK scholars working on Brecht, and there will be plenty of time for discussion. Colleagues, students and members of the general public are all welcome. Proceedings are in English. A more detailed programme will be published nearer the time. Admission to the symposium is free, but those wishing to attend are asked to inform birgit.mikus@exeter.ox.ac.uk.
After the symposium there will be a recital and reading of Brecht poems and songs in new translations, in the Maplethorpe Hall from 7pm to c.8.15pm. This is a ticketed event (£8 and £5), by application to birgit.mikus@exeter.ox.ac.uk
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‘Roots of restlessness? Translations in times of Disruption’
Date: Saturday 10th May 2014
Venue: Mure Room, Merton College, University of Oxford.
Supported by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
The University of Oxford’s interdisciplinary network Translations in Transnational Contexts invites submissions for a one-day conference that will consider the relevance, role and impact of translations during periods of serious discontinuity and/or rupture such as wars, invasions, imperial crises, mass migration, natural disasters (including epidemics), and revolutions – be they political, social, cultural or technological. The works studied can be literary and non-literary texts, images as well as records of verbal and non-verbal communications that took place at any time in history.
Key questions and topics to address might include, but are not limited to:
. Have translations ever instigated a crisis, or shaped the way in which it developed? If so, how far should translators be held responsible for such an outcome?
. To what extent have moments of disruption fostered or hindered the translation of specific works?
. Do periods of upheaval encourage the production of new translations and/or the reprint of old works? If the latter, were long-established artistic or literary works preferred to non-literary works, or the reverse?
. What impact, if any, abruptly-changing circumstances have on matters of accuracy, fidelity and/or writing style?
Submissions are not restricted to any area of study or language. The network welcomes proposals from scholars at all stages of their academic careers and particularly those that cross disciplinary boundaries in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Innovative formats of research communication are welcome along with traditional 20-minute papers.
Please send your 250 word proposal including name, affiliation, and contact details to the following email address: translations.transnational@gmail.com
The deadline for submitting an abstract is 31 January 2014.
For more information, contact any of the interim coordinators:
Professor David Hook (david.hook@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk),
Translations in Transnational Contexts 