Keynote speaker :
- Mona Baker, University of Oslo
Narrating the Migrant in (Radical) Left Wing Discourse: Might English Translations of Ancient Greek Texts Offer a More Humanizing Model of Language?
This presentation will examine conceptions of outsiders to the polity, focusing on the lexical items migrant(s), refugee(s), and exile(s) in both internet- and print-based sources. Drawing primarily on a subsection of the Genealogies of Knowledge Internet Corpus consisting of left-wing sources, I argue that left-wing politics is currently caught up in the rhetoric of the right and of mainstream institutions in society, largely reproducing the same discursive patterns even as it sets out to challenge them. Dominant patterns in left-wing Internet sources reveal, for example, that the economic migrant vs. political refugee distinction enforced by mainstream institutions remains largely intact, that the assumption of a “refugee crisis” unfolding in Europe is accepted at face value, and that the left is entangled in the same politics of labelling imposed by the right, reproducing designations such as “undocumented migrants” uncritically. Refugees and migrants, moreover, are represented as victims with no agency, are discussed in legal terms that serve to dehumanize them, and are repeatedly “quantified” as a homogenous and potentially problematic category.
Acknowledging the contagious nature of dominant discourses and the difficulty of finding an alternative language with which to argue against established institutional rhetoric, I further explore historical models that appear more consistent with the values espoused by left-wing politics today. I briefly examine a subcorpus of modern English translations of ancient Greek texts such as Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War and Herodotus’s Histories to demonstrate the viability of adopting a different conceptualization of refugees and other outsiders to the polity that may be drawn from classical antiquity—and/or from nineteenth- and early twentieth-century receptions of texts originating in classical antiquity—and the possibility of developing an alternative discourse with which to speak about migrants in the present.
Guest speakers :
- Brian James Baer, Kent State University
COPYRIGHT Kent State Univesity
The Cold War Archive: Lezama Lima’s Paradiso and the Post-war Worlding of Latin American Literature
This paper explores the traditionally under-appreciated role of the editor in the context of the first English translation of the novel Paradiso by Cuban writer José Lezama Lima. Within the polarized climate of the Cold War, the fact that the novel was banned in Cuba for its elaborate style and homoerotic content was exploited by Western publishers, and the author was touted as the next Proust. Based on extensive archive of materials from the US publisher Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, this paper offers a sociological perspective on the increasingly fraught relationship between a young female editor and an older male translator as they negotiated the final version of the translation.
- Caroline Payant, Université du Québec à Montréal
Nos identités et notre (in)sécurité linguistique en milieu plurilingue : enjeux et expériences des personnes apprenantes de langues additionnelles
Le concept de plurilinguisme a pris une importance considérable dans l'enseignement des langues additionnelles, soulignant l'interaction de plusieurs langues au sein du répertoire linguistique d'un individu. Cette présentation examinera le processus multidimensionnel de l’apprentissage des langues chez les personnes apprenantes à travers un prisme plurilingue en examinant la négociation continue entre l’apprentissage, la construction de l’identité et l’insécurité linguistique dans des contextes plurilingues et pluriculturels.
Je commencerai par explorer le plurilinguisme, en le distinguant du cadre monolingue qui prévaux dans de nombreux contextes éducatifs, puis j’aborderai l’insécurité linguistique en contextes plurilingues et pluriculturels. Cette discussion portera sur les expériences vécues par des personnes apprenantes, révélant les tensions auxquelles ils sont confrontés lorsqu'elles naviguent dans des paysages linguistiques divers.
Cette présentation proposera aux personnes participantes une perspective nuancée à l'intersection de la langue, de l'identité et de l’(in)sécurité linguistique, les outillant ainsi avec des connaissances qui leur permettront de soutenir et d'autonomiser les personnes plurilingues dans les contextes éducatifs.
- Diptiranjan Pattaneik, Banaras Hindu University
Translation, Literary Culture and Identity: A View from Odisha
Like in the case of many literary cultures across the world, the Odia literary culture owes its consolidation to vigorous translational activism. This kind of translational activism was quite natural in a multilingual and multicultural space like the Indian subcontinent where diverse social groups with their multiple linguistic affiliations and belief systems formed complex ‘contact zones’ (à la Mary Louise Pratt). Although Odia literary culture thrived in a nascent form in the eastern coast of the Indian subcontinent along with the dominant Sanskrit literary culture which had a pan-Indian presence, the proliferation of Odia literary texts begun to be noticed after the 14th century. This literary culture was triggered by Sarola Das’s translational activism which in its turn might have been an outcome of a nascent quest of identity of the Odia speaking community. This identity discourse was founded upon several factors, political, epistemic and religious. The establishment of an indigenous Odia empire, the threat of the monopolistic monotheism of Islamic invaders after 12th century CE and the challenge posed by caste-based knowledge monopolies of traditional societies of those times could have been the contributing factors for the consolidation of that identity discourse.
The paradox of the coexistence of political turmoil and cultural excellence could be gleaned from the history of translational activism, literary culture and identity discourse in Odisha across four centuries during which the indigenous empire disintegrated, Odisha became a failed state and the geographical space of Odia speaking people became a battleground of various competing politico-military forces. However, the strong foundational subaltern and vernacular initiatives taken in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries continued to fan a vibrant translational and literary culture.
There was a repetition of the challenges to Odia culture and identity albeit in a more pronounced manner when the society was forced to confront a new ‘contact zone’ i.e. the hegemonic British colonial power/knowledge. The search for an indigenous identity initiated by Sarola in the 14th century became a full-fledged self-conscious revolutionary identity discourse in the 19th century leading to the first language-based province carved out of British India in 1936.
The colonial contact was responsible in many ways for the consolidation of this identity discourse. On the whole the different contact zones of Odia speaking people, however detrimental they were in politico-economic terms, were nonetheless responsible for the augmentation of culture and identity that could be witnessed in a vast body of translated and literary texts. The present paper by sampling a few representative translated and literary texts will provide a narrative of contact which hopefully can also provide insights about how communitarian identities are formed.
- James Corcoran and Fiona Patterson, York University
Production de connaissances plurilingues dans un collège canadien semi-périphérique et bilingue
Dans l'économie mondiale des savoirs, les universitaires plurilingues sont de plus en plus confrontés à la pression de publier (en particulier en anglais) ou de périr. Au cours des dernières décennies, un nombre croissant de travaux ont permis d'identifier une myriade de facteurs influant sur les pratiques, les processus et les résultats de la rédaction des travaux de recherche des universitaires (Flowerdew & Habibie, 2022). Cependant, malgré quelques exceptions notables (p. ex., Gentil et Séror, 2014 ; Payant et Belcher, 2019 ; St-Onge et al., 2021), la recherche a rarement porté sur les universitaires canadiens, et n'a pas non plus étudié de manière approfondie leurs pratiques de littératie avancée. En réponse à cette lacune évidente, cet article présente les résultats d'une étude de cas à méthodes mixtes visant à mieux comprendre les pratiques de production et de diffusion scientifiques du corps professoral d'un collège bilingue au sein d'une université anglophone au Canada. Les résultats comprennent ceux de plusieurs ensembles de données, avec des entretiens semi-structurés informés analytiquement par les résultats d'une enquête en ligne (n = 42). Dans ce travail, nous explorons les expériences distinctes des universitaires plurilingues qui écrivent pour publication dans ce contexte institutionnel. Plus précisément, nous nous appuyons principalement sur les données qualitatives pour mieux comprendre comment trois professeurs décident de la langue dans laquelle ils vont publier, et comment ils font appel à leurs divers répertoires linguistiques et à leurs ressources humaines/électroniques lorsqu'ils produisent des manuscrits et des présentations de conférence. À partir de données quantitatives, cet article se penche sur les trajectoires et les expériences spécifiques de trois chercheurs, en fournissant des vignettes de leurs expériences en matière d'écriture scientifique, mettant en évidence non seulement leurs compétences avancées en anglais et en français, mais aussi leurs réservoirs plurilingues sous-jacents. En s'appuyant sur une perspective plurilingue, l'analyse des résultats de ces méthodes mixtes fait ressortir la complexité, l'idiosyncrasie et la compétence plurilingue des chercheurs qui diffusent leurs travaux dans plusieurs langues. Cet article se termine par des questions et des considérations relatives aux politiques, à la pédagogie et à la recherche pour ceux qui étudient et soutiennent les universitaires plurilingues travaillant dans des établissements d'enseignement postsecondaire bilingues et francophones au Canada.
- Johanna Nutter and Jack Paterson, Founders & Creative Producers of New Translation Canada | Nouvelle Traduction Canada
Towards a truly national theatre in both official languages.
Every three years, four or five Canadian playwrights in both official languages (French & English) are nominated for the Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s top theatre award. Each of these playwrights represents a leading voice in Canadian playwriting as nominated by their peers.
New Translation Canada | Nouvelle Traduction Canada & The Prix Siminovitch Prize Playwright Translation project was born from a discovery that the works of the playwrights nominated for the 2020 Siminovitch Prize and their contributions to Canadian culture were not available in both official languages.
We contacted each of the playwrights who shared our excitement for this vision. They each selected one piece from their body of work for translation. These works represent a diversity of leading Canadian playwrights from different regions, lived experiences, cultural and linguistic heritages and draw from across their careers–from early noted works to recent creations.
We imagine a truly national theatre community where the works of Anglophone and Francophone artists are available and promoted to audiences in both official languages.
2020 Prix Siminovitch Prize New Translation Project:
ColoniséEs by Annick Lefebvre (English Translator: Johanna Nutter), N’importe où sauf ici by Carmen Aguirre, Raps created with Shad Kabango (French Translator: Emmanuelle Jimenez, Translated from Anywhere but Here. Workshop produced in association with CEAD, Montreal), libre comme des sauvages by Tara Beagan (French Translator: Charles Bender - Translated from free as injuns), Robert Moule by Martin Bellemare (English Translator: Jack Paterson - Translated from Moule Robert), Crawlspace by Karen Hines (French Translator: Mishka Lavigne - Produced in association with Theatre francais de Toronto)
2023/2024 commissions:
blood.claat by d’bi.young anitafrika (French Translator: Djennie Laguerre), carried away on the crest of a wave by David Yee (French Translator: Maryse Warda), Granite by Mishka Lavigne (English Translator: David Gagnon Walker) & Offensive to Some by Berni Stapleton (French Translator: Sonya Malaborza).