UCML plenary, 4 July 2014

Collaboration in Languages: Celebrating success ‘Translating Cultures: the place of languages in thematic and interdisciplinary research’

Charles Forsdick

AHRC Themes: Background• ‘Future Directions’ consultation with

researchers (Feb-May 2009)• Further consultation with key partners

& Subject Associations & via HEI visits• Themes shaped and refined by Theme

Advisory Groups

• Science in Culture

• Digital Transformations

• Care for the Future

• Translating Cultures• Connected Communities

(with other Research Councils)

AHRC Themes

Translating Cultures: Overview

• In a world seen to be increasingly characterized by transnational and globalized connections, need for understanding & communication across diverse cultures;

• Role of ‘translation’, in its broadest sense, in the transmission, interpretation, transformation and sharing of languages, values, beliefs, histories and narratives;

• Addressing range of issues including: cultural exchange & diplomacy, multiculturalism, (in)tolerance, identities & migration, youth / on-line language & identity

• Promoting work across languages, disciplines & sectors

Strategic objective 1 How can research into languages and cultures anywhere

in the world and at any time:

develop knowledge of the nature of translation as a process that occurs across different languages, cultures, generations, media, genres and sectors – and permit in particular an emphasis on the cultural dynamics of translation, as well as on analysis of its distinctiveness in relation to other processes of interpretation, transfer, imitation, transformation and exchange;

Strategic objective 2How can research into languages and cultures anywhere in the world

and at any time: engage effectively – from an Arts and Humanities perspective – with key areas of public concern such as diplomacy, commerce, conflict and security, economic growth, migration, education, health and well-being, law, ethics and the environment by informing the work of policy makers and public, private and third sector organizations.

Translating Cultures: Aims• explore the sites, locations and zones within,

across and between which translation occurs, with particular reference to the role of translation in connecting the global, regional, national and local;

• encourage understanding of the role of the intermediaries who perform the work of translation;

• invite reflection on the vehicles of translation, such as narratives, performances, objects and other cultural artefacts;

• interrogate the contexts in which translation occurs, both from a historical perspective and in terms of more contemporary interactions such as digital media and communications.

ScopeTranslation is conceived in its broadest possible sense and relates not exclusively to processes that are interlingual, but also, for example, to those that are intermedial or intercultural:

• Might also encompass issues such as the ‘untranslatable’, and the impact of what is transformed, gained or lost in the process of translation;

• Encourages engagement with the ways in which translation – with ‘inward’ and ‘outward’ vectors – may be seen to be constitutive of cultures in their formation, projection and transformation.

• Contributes to understanding of the role of translation both in processes of artistic and literary creation, and as an active contributor in the development of new knowledge and understanding;

• Develops understanding of the ethics of translation, in the light of a range of phenomena including globalization and digital communication;

• Permits a closer interrogation of the politics and place of translation in a variety of public, private and voluntary bodies and their wider contexts.

Theme Activity to Date • 11 Research Development Awards

• Highlight notices in Networking & Fellowships: 30 and 37 awards made

• 3 large Theme Grants

• Research Innovation Awards

• Related awards made through responsive mode

Collaborations

• AHRC-HEA symposia on interculturalism and translating

cultures

• Institute for Government, policy workshops

• BA/Guardian Language Festival

• Cheltenham Literature Festival

• MOD/Dstl

ML Research Fellowships

Dr Emma Campbell, University of WarwickTranslation in Medieval Francophone Texts and ManuscriptsDr Helen Finch, University of Leeds   Literary testimony, transnational memories: The politics of transmission of Holocaust testimony in the German cultural fieldDr Siobhan Shilton, University of BristolTranscultural Encounters: Postcolonialism in the Visual Arts

ML Research Fellowships

Dr Gigliola Sulis, University of LeedsThe Island, the Nation, the World. Sergio Atzeni and the post-modern definition of Sardinian ethnic identityProfessor Stuart Taberner, University of LeedsGerman-language Literature and Transnationalism

ML Research Development Awards

Professor Hilary Footitt, University of ReadingLanguages and international NGOs: cultural knowledge in communities in crisisDr Helena Miguelez-Carballeira, Bangor UniversityTranslation in Non-State Cultures: Perspectives from Wales

ML Research Networking Awards

Dr Lucille Desblache, Roehampton UniversityTranslating MusicProfessor Michael Heffernan, University of NottinghamRe-Enacting the Silk Road: Transnational Encounters for the 21st Century

ML Research Networking Awards

Dr Nicola McLelland, University of NottinghamTowards a History of Modern Foreign Language Teaching and Learning (MFLTL)Professor Andrea Noble, Durham UniversityPhotography and the Transnational Politics of AffectDr Emma Wagstaff, University of BirminghamContemporary French Poetic Practice: an interdisciplinary approach

ML-focused Theme Large Grants

PI: Professor Charles Burdett, University of BristolTransnationalizing Modern Languages: Mobility, Identity and Translation in Modern Italian Cultures

• Italy offers an exceptional example for the study of ‘translating cultures’;

• Communities identified as ‘Italian’ have formed all over the world, while in the last 30 years Italy has also become a destination country for migrants from a variety of national, religious and ethnic backgrounds;

• All these communities have shaped the way in which 'Italianness' is understood within the nation and beyond its confines, while contributing to the formation of local identities in linguistic and cultural contexts markedly different from Italy.

• Seeks new framework for the discipline of Modern Languages as a whole, one which sees the study of the interaction of cultures as its most essential characteristic;

• Brings together researchers from the different subject areas of Modern Languages and shows the importance of the connection with research in other arts and social science disciplines;

• Enhances public understanding of Modern Languages by fostering public debate between discipline specialists and policy makers.

PI: Professor Alison Phipps, University of GlasgowResearching Multilingually at the Borders of Language: the Body, Law and the State

http://researching-multilingually-at-borders.com

• How can translation and interpretation processes and practices at the borders of language, the body, law, and the state be rigorously theorised and researched, and research findings effectively represented and evaluated, in a multilingual manner?

• integrated and innovative programme that promises: (a) to transform academic and public understandings of processes and practices of translation and interpretation; (b) to develop more effective research practices in contexts where more than one language is used; and (c) to inform the work of policy makers and public, private and third-sector organisations in key areas of public policy concern (education, health and well-being, law, migration, and security).

Structure:

• Researching Multilingually and Translating Cultures (RMTC) 'hub';

• five original case studies (involving research in the UK and US, as well as in Bulgaria, Gaza, The Netherlands, Romania and Sierra Leone);

• Creative Arts and Translating Cultures (CATC) 'hub'.

POTENTIAL OF LARGE-SCALE COLLABORATION :

develop, within a single, integrated project, new theoretical, conceptual and empirical understandings of processes and practices of translation, interpretation and representation, and also of the methodological, ethical and epistemological issues that arise when research is conducted in contexts where more than one language is used.

the place of languages in thematic and interdisciplinary research

• Assert clear disciplinarity;• Challenge to alinguistic/ linguistically

mute fields;• Seek actively collaborative

interdisciplinary working on equal terms;• Enhance internationalization of research

through language/multilingualism;• Integrate questions of language to

issues of public concern.

• www.ahrc.ac.uk• www.translating.hypotheses.org/• www.translatingcultures.org.uk• @charlesforsdick• @Trans_Cultures

craf@liv.ac.uktranslatingcultures@liv.ac.uk