Translating Cultures leadership fellowship (Phase II)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Modern Languages and Cultures
Abstract
The second phase of the Leadership Fellowship will permit the further development of a number of activities relating to the 'Translating Cultures' theme. These will involve a number of past, present and future award holders, as well as a variety of other stakeholders from outside academia. Reflection on the legacies of the theme will also necessitate engagement with a broader range of researchers, including those at an early stage of their careers. Central to activity will remain support of the holders of large grants and innovation awards, as well as careful exploration of the ways in which the findings of research conducted under the theme will enhance its visibility and legacy. Although such collaboration and community building remain essential, significant time will as a result be dedicated in phase two to the refinement of a coherent narrative that unifies key elements of theme activity and underlines its distinctive intellectual agendas. This narrative will be developed and communicated through sustained dialogue with award holders and increased understanding of the outcomes and outputs of their projects. A range of research-based activities and publications (those envisaged include a special issue of a journal, a glossary of keywords and an exhibition) will demonstrate the ways in which the 'Translating Cultures' theme has delivered new findings, advanced different research angles, and permitted the elaboration or refinement of concepts, theories and methods that will have an impact across Arts and Humanities research, and beyond.
I will continue to enhance awareness of 'Translating Cultures' through the use of dedicated social media as well as by attendance at other relevant academic conferences and non-academic events. This strand of activity will include interaction with other parallel initiatives and programmes, both national and international, including HERA's 'Cultural Encounters'. Specific attention will be focused on the emerging connections between 'Translating Cultures' and OWRI. Theme development in the second phase of activity will also depend on the extension of collaboration with non-academic partners, particularly in the areas of policy and public understanding.
Central to the evolution of the Leadership Fellowship in its second phase will be more active collaboration with other AHRC themes ('Science in Culture', 'Digital Transformations', and 'Care for the Future'), as well as with the cross-Council programme on 'Connected Communities'. A number of bi- and tri-lateral initiatives are in development, relating to a variety of areas including big data, the medical humanities, the useable past and transnational cultural forms. These will allow the development of research at the intersections of these thematic areas (most notably ensuring the exploration of questions of translation, interpreting, multilingualism, cross-cultural mobility and international comparison). They will also contribute to understandings of the ways in which research across the 'Translating Cultures' theme has contributed (and might yet contribute further) to a variety of emerging directions in Arts and Humanities research - and in the interdisciplinary activity which the Arts and Humanities enhance). At the same time, the Leadership Fellows will pursue a programme of activities that will permit collective reflection on key areas of thematic activity, including interdisciplinary research, collaborative research and partnerships, and internationalization / transnational research collaboration. There will also be an event in 2018 to showcase the research in each of the themes, and to explore the ways in which this has advanced their respective fields.
I will continue to enhance awareness of 'Translating Cultures' through the use of dedicated social media as well as by attendance at other relevant academic conferences and non-academic events. This strand of activity will include interaction with other parallel initiatives and programmes, both national and international, including HERA's 'Cultural Encounters'. Specific attention will be focused on the emerging connections between 'Translating Cultures' and OWRI. Theme development in the second phase of activity will also depend on the extension of collaboration with non-academic partners, particularly in the areas of policy and public understanding.
Central to the evolution of the Leadership Fellowship in its second phase will be more active collaboration with other AHRC themes ('Science in Culture', 'Digital Transformations', and 'Care for the Future'), as well as with the cross-Council programme on 'Connected Communities'. A number of bi- and tri-lateral initiatives are in development, relating to a variety of areas including big data, the medical humanities, the useable past and transnational cultural forms. These will allow the development of research at the intersections of these thematic areas (most notably ensuring the exploration of questions of translation, interpreting, multilingualism, cross-cultural mobility and international comparison). They will also contribute to understandings of the ways in which research across the 'Translating Cultures' theme has contributed (and might yet contribute further) to a variety of emerging directions in Arts and Humanities research - and in the interdisciplinary activity which the Arts and Humanities enhance). At the same time, the Leadership Fellows will pursue a programme of activities that will permit collective reflection on key areas of thematic activity, including interdisciplinary research, collaborative research and partnerships, and internationalization / transnational research collaboration. There will also be an event in 2018 to showcase the research in each of the themes, and to explore the ways in which this has advanced their respective fields.
People |
ORCID iD |
Charles Forsdick (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Forsdick, C
(2020)
Visualizing Empire: Africa, Europe and the Politics of Representation
Forsdick, C
(2019)
Translating Cultures: Final Report
Forsdick, C
(2019)
Routledge Research Companion to Travel Writing
Maguire R.
(2017)
Who owns Haiti?: People, power, and sovereignty
in Who Owns Haiti?: People, Power, and Sovereignty
Milne A-L
(2018)
Le regard de l'étranger ? France as 'elsewhere'. Un échange à partir de six questions
in Revue critique de fixxion française contemporaine
Spadaro B
(2020)
In conversation: translating cultures
in The Translator
Wells N
(2019)
Ethnography and Modern Languages
in Modern Languages Open
Description | 1. Translation is ubiquitous across a wide range of disciplinary fields and has conceptual and material implications for the nature of academic engagement when applied to interdisciplinary work. 2. Translation of ideas, practices and methods between different academic disciplines is a significant resource for the production of new knowledge. There is an associated need to reflect, however, on whether the traditional forms whereby the findings of research are themselves 'translated' between disciplines and sectors are fit for purpose, and whether the creative arts might not play an enhanced role in these processes. 3. Cross-theme working such as 'Translating Cultures' collaboration with 'Care for the Future' and 'Connected Communities' has allowed research findings to be embedded across subject areas. 4. Translation is not only a form of transmission and circulation of ideas, ideologies and forms of knowledge, but should also be seen as a constitutive element of culture and society in its own right. 5. Multilingualism and linguistic sensitivity are hallmarks of a thriving society and should be valued as such in order to avoid language indifference or the acceptance of monolingualism as a default position or 'unmarked case'. 6. Language should be understood as a social 'category' in its own right, alongside race, gender, class and age, and should be approached intersectionally in relation to these. 7. Arts and Humanities researchers have special opportunities, with the increased attention being paid to public engagement, to recognise that there are specific groups, often seen as 'minorities', who are only ever known in translation. 8. Domestic policymaking should demonstrate linguistic sensitivity and awareness of linguistic variability, given that bilingualism and linguistic superdiversity are increasingly evident in twenty-first-century UK society, and multilingualism has always been a key aspect of UK culture. International policymaking requires a similar awareness of the challenges inherent in translating cultures. 9. 'Translating Cultures' research has shown that listening itself - a practice of taking steps to ensure the best possible understanding of other individuals' and communities' needs - must form a more considered and refined aspect of intercultural communication: the necessity of effective listening should especially be built into the planning of development and policy work. 10. Access to appropriate translation services has emerged in domestic and international contexts as a basic human right, affecting communities' access to a wide range of other services from education to healthcare. 11. The role of translation experts can be rethought to include not just academics or policymakers, but child language brokers, BSL users and refugees as experts on the process of translation. 12. Untranslatability continues to be an important conceptual and experiential encounter, across borders, across time and across academic disciplines; acknowledging and valuing the untranslatable is a key part of valuing expertise. 13. The language barrier is a construction; in multilingual and linguistically superdiverse societies, individuals and communities continually negotiate linguistic diversity through language acquisition, the deployment of repertoires of languages or the development of strategies such as translanguaging, as well as the use of various means of human and machine translation. 14. A spectrum of linguistic abilities is desirable; while some areas such as diplomacy require a high level of language competence, avoidance of language learning for fear of lack of fluency or as a result of monolingual complacency is no longer conducive to successful participation in a multilingual world. 15. Understanding 'other' languages, and grasping what is communicated through processes of translanguaging, should rightfully and ethically take into account the broader conditions under which people are speaking, including conditions of pain, loss and pressure. 16. Translation and multilingualism can be drivers for creativity, and creativity also has a place in translation-as-research; translation is generative in its own right and is not simply a process of information transmission. 17. Arts and Humanities research can employ creativity as practice which serves as an instrumental form of communication and translation in multilingual communities, and in conditions where histories of trauma exist. 18. Understanding academic engagement, knowledge exchange and the transfer of research findings into the policy sphere in the light of 'translation' rather than 'impact' allows a clearer grasp of the dynamics of these processes. 19. Indigenous knowledge bases are endangered by neglect of processes of translation, although epistemicide - the destruction of knowledge - relates not just to what is not translated but also to choices about what can be translated. 20. Translation is about more than decoding the 'rest of the world' for consumption by English speakers; it is a multidirectional and historically inflected process - a truly translational approach to Arts and Humanities research acknowledges issues of equality, diversity and inclusion, and engages with questions of decoloniality. |
Exploitation Route | The theme will inform future AHRC policy, and also shape the approaches of key partners such as the British Library in the area of translation. |
Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Description | Partnership with Freeword Centre, International Translation Day; Translator-in-residence scheme, British Library; Co-organization of GCRF workshops on behalf of AHRC; research underpinned British Museum exhibition on Toussaint Louverture; Translating Cultures became major partner on International Translation Day, involving a number of theme projects. |
First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
Sector | Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
Description | British Library |
Organisation | The British Library |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Co-ordination of workshops (January and June 2016); co-ordination of BL translator-in-residence scheme. |
Collaborator Contribution | Co-ordination of workshops (January and June 2016); co-ordination of BL translator-in-residence scheme. |
Impact | None so far. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Cheltenham Festival 2018 |
Organisation | Cheltenham Festivals |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Contributed to organisation of panels on Shakespeare in translation, on language learning and on literary translation |
Collaborator Contribution | Charing of sessions; contributions to panels |
Impact | Outcome is contribution to public understanding of issues central to the Translating Cultures them |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Freeword Centre |
Organisation | Free Word Centre |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Partner on International Translation Day. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partner on International Translation Day, 2017 and 2018 |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Reggae research network collaboration with Positive Vibrations festival, Liverpool |
Organisation | Positive Vibrations |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Positive Vibrations festival, Liverpool includes an annual reggae panel involving academics and practitioners. The 2018 panel was led by the Reggae research network and involved network participants. |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion with reggae industry partners and musicians. |
Impact | Reggae research panel |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | SOLAS festival |
Organisation | Solas Festival |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Ran a programme during the festival with the UNESCO chair for refugee integration through language and the arts |
Collaborator Contribution | co-coordinated talks and debates; curated exhibition from Transnationalizing Modern Languages project |
Impact | Contribution to public understanding of translation and multilingualism; contribution to public understanding of modern slavery |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | 'Transnational, translingual: thinking beyond a monolingual France', Contemporary French Civilization conference, University of Arizona, August 2019 [keynote lecture] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | 100 academics and postgraduate students attended lecture on translingualism |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Argentina keynote |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 'Penal heritage and the afterlives of "forced" mobility', Heritages of Migration: Moving Stories, Objects and Home, Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 2017 [keynote lecture] |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Ethnography and Modern Languages, IMLR |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Workshop with OWRI partners exploring the intersections of Modern Languages and ethnography |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Macquarie University, December 2017 [keynote paper] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 'Beyond world-literature', Literature and the World: Theories, Concepts, Debates, Macquarie University, December 2017 [keynote paper] |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Marjorie Shaw Annual Lecture, University of Sheffield, May 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | 'Dark Tourism and Penal-Heritage in the French Speaking World', Marjorie Shaw Annual Lecture, University of Sheffield, May 2017 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Theme lecture (Leeds Beckett) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Introductory lecture on Translating Cultures theme |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Theme lecture (Napier) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Introductory lecture on Translating Cultures theme |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | UNESCO Spring School presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | UNESCO spring school keynote talk on slavery and heritage |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Warwick Toussaint lecture |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | '"Arguing around Toussaint": the Black Jacobin in an Age of Revolution', distinguished lecture series, Department of English, University of Warwick, May 2017 [invited lecture] |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | reggae research network |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded network is a joint initiative between the Translating Cultures theme and the Connected Communities programme, and is open to researchers and partners funded under those areas, as well as to the wider academic and music communities.The network's programme of activities explores the neglected important popular music, political, religious culture of reggae. The purpose of this first symposium was to begin scoping the field of research and public engagement activity so we could see where work on reggae is already being undertaken and also to begin to think about research gaps. The Symposium was attended by 40 people, with a range of speakers, both based in the UK and internationally, who talked about and presented their work on areas including: •Current and recent funded research projects on reggae and related areas •PhD students introducing their reggae-related research topics •Wider public knowledge activity on reggae, including exhibitions •Academic researchers presenting their own work in the field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
URL | http://www.reggaenetwork.wordpress.com |