THE 3RD ID-TS GRADUATE EVENT FOR DOCTORAL STUDENTS

(Hi)stories of Translation and Translators: Past, Present and Future

Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies
Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
(The conference will be held online via Zoom Video Conferencing)
12-13 NOVEMBER 2020

CALL FOR PAPERS

Topics to be addressed in the conference include, but are not limited to, the following:
●Translation and history
●Macro-/Micro-history & translation
●Archival research in the digital age
●Retranslation
●Translation sociology
●Translator & Interpreter Studies
●Interpreting Studies & history
●Gender and translation
●Interdisciplinarity in TS
●Ethical aspects of historical research in TS

IMPORTANT DATES
Closing date for abstract submissions: 09.10.2020
Abstract acceptance notification: 23.10.2020
Deadline for presenter confirmations: 30.10.2020
Registration period: 24.10.2020 – 11.11.2020

For the submission of abstracts and all general enquiries, please contact:
idts.gradevent2020@boun.edu.tr

Anthony Pym has suggested that translation history has three main arteries: “translation
archeology” (discourses on the questions of who translated what, how, where, when, for whom
and with what effect?); “historical criticism” (discourses assessing the ways translations help or
hinder progress); and “explanation” (tackling the question “why?”) (1998, 5-6). Pym’s conception
of translation history undoubtedly opens up a systematic method of dealing with extensive and
detailed data from either a macro- or micro-historical perspective. The invaluable findings of
traditional macro-historical studies have certainly triggered new approaches, such as the focus on
agents of translation and the examination of extratextual sources that help us (re)construct the
history of translation and translators.
There is no doubt that the past two decades have marked a substantial shift of focus in the
field of Translation Studies from the translated text to the actors involved in the translation process,
leading to the birth of the new branch of (what Andrew Chesterman calls) “Translator Studies”
(2009). In line with this shift of focus, historical research investigating the role and position of
translational and cultural agents has gained increasing attention. As a result, the method of microhistory
has become instrumental in uncovering the voices of these agents in social and cultural
history, thereby enriching the literature on translation history, which previously tended to
concentrate on macro dimensions of translation. The micro-historical approach has motivated
researchers to examine primary sources such as personal papers, manuscripts, post-hoc accounts
and interviews. By looking into these previously neglected archival documents, researchers aim to
shed light on “the translator’s decision-making process” (Munday, 2013), on “the collaboration in
the production of translations” (Paloposki, 2017) and on “the place of literary translators and their
social situatedness and agency” (Constanza Guzmán, 2013). In doing so, they have initiated new
discussions, which promise to broaden the horizons of Translation Studies as a discipline.
Lieven D’hulst and Yves Gambier argue that “histories of translation knowledge may be
written about all periods, all areas and all domains of translational communication” (2018, 10). In
that spirit, we, as Ph.D. candidates in the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies,
Boğaziçi University, plan to organize a conference that takes a look at the past, present and future
of macro- and micro-histories of translation. In collaboration with the ID-TS, we invite doctoral
students to present their research at this graduate event, which will be held online due to the
restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The book of abstracts will be published on the
conference website (www.transint.boun.edu.tr/id-ts-2020) following abstract acceptance
notification. We also hope to include the papers presented in a special journal issue dedicated to the event.

Organizing Committee
Deniz Malaymar, Ph.D. Candidate & Research Assistant, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
Erdem Hürer, Ph.D. Student & Research Assistant, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
Nesrin Conker, Ph.D. Candidate & Research Assistant, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
N. Zeynep Kürük-Erçetin, Ph.D. Candidate & Research Assistant, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

References
Chesterman, A. (2009). The name and nature of translator studies. Journal of language and
communication studies. 42. 13-22.
D’hulst, L. & Yves Gambier. (2018) A History of Modern Translation Knowledge: Sources,
concepts, effects. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Guzmán, M. C. (2013). Translation North and South: Composing the Translator’s Archive. TTR,
26 (2). 171–191. Available at <https://doi.org/10.7202/1037136ar> [consulted July 1,
2020].
Munday, J. (2013). The role of archival and manuscript research in the investigation of translator
decision-making. Target, 25(1). 125-139.
Paloposki, O. (2017). “In Search of an Ordinary Translator: Translator Histories, Working
Practices and Translator-Publisher Relations in the light of Archival Documents.” The
Translator, 23, 1. 31-48.
Pym, A. (1998). Method in Translation History. Manchester, UK: St. Jerome.
Further Readings
D’hulst, L. (2015) The Figure of the translator revisited: A theoretical overview and a case study.
Convergences francophones. 2(2). 1-11.
Milton, J. & Paul Bandia. (2009). Introduction: Agents of translation and Translation Studies.
Agents of Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamin’s Publishing.
Rundle, C. (2012) Translation as an approach to history. Translation Studies. 5(2). 232-240.
Wakabayashi, J. (2012). Japanese translation historiography: Origins, strengths, weaknesses and
lessons. Translation Studies. 5(2), 172-188.