Globalization, Translation and Power
Objectives
1. Gain awareness that translation is not a neutral activity but is strongly conditioned by social, ideological, political, economic, cultural factors and by games/power struggles;
2. Understand the role of translation in the globalized world, what is the impact of globalization on the translation industry and how translation contributes to the globalization process itself;
3. Acquire knowledge about the impact of power structures and their agents on the translation process;
4. Understand translation as a practice at the service of dominant powers or as an act of resistance, promoting innovation and change;
5. Be able to use the theoretical and conceptual apparatus that allows framing, analysing and interpreting the phenomenon of translation in a critical way;
6. Develop autonomous research skills.
General characterization
Code
03101396
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Maria Zulmira Bandarra de Sousa Verissimo Castanheira
Hours
Weekly - Available soon
Total - 168
Teaching language
English
Prerequisites
N/A
Bibliography
- Álvarez, Roman and M. Carmen-Africa Vidal Claramonte (1996), Translation, Power, Subversion, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
- Althusser, Louis (2014), On the Reproduction of Capitalism. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, trans. G. M. Goshgarian, London and New York: Verso.
- Baker, M. (2019), Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account, London and New York: Routledge.
- Cronin, M. (2003), Translation and Globalization, London and New York: Routledge.
- Foucault, M. (1980), Power/Knowledge. Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon, trans.
- Colin Gordon, Leo Marshall, John Mepham and Kate Soper, New York: Pantheon Books.
- Harding, Sue-Ann, Cabonell Ovidi Cortés (eds.) (2018), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Culture, London and New York: Routledge.
- Inghilleri, M. (2017), Translation and Migration, London and New York: Routledge.
- Tymoczko, M. and Edwin Gentzler (eds) (2002), Translation and Power, Amherst/Boston: University of Massachusetts Press.
Teaching method
Seminars of a theoretical-practical nature, in which the theoretical presentation of the themes is articulated with commentary, critique and debate on the texts and students’ oral presentations on aspects of the curriculum. Students’ research will be guided and supported with a view to preparing them for the writing of the individual final paper.
Evaluation method
Continuous assessment - The assessment method followed will consist of rewarding regular attendance, keeping up with required reading, contributing to debates by means of spontaneous interventions in class, displaying a capacity for establishing relations at the conceptual level and consistency in developing arguments(20%), and writing an individual research paper of about 15 pages (excluding bibliography and appendices) on one of the topics of the syllabus(60%), making brief oral presentations upon previous request (20%)
Subject matter
1.Problematizing the phenomenon of globalization: social, political, economic and cultural dimensions, consequences.
2.Discussion of notions with which the concept of globalization interacts: colonialism, neo-imperialism, westernization, multiculturalism, hybridization, among others.
3.Tensions between the global and the local: the role of globalization in the (re)construction of local identities. Homogenization versus linguistic and cultural differences.
4.Translation as an activity that promotes or resists globalization.
5.Globalization and mobility: translation issues raised by migratory flows.
6.Power relations in translation practices.
7.Impact of power structures and their agents on translation. Translation at the service of instituted power or as an act of resistance to dominant powers. Translation in the context of censorship.
8.The agency and the power of the translator: selection and manipulation processes, inclusive and exclusive practices, cultural and political activism.