On polarization

The ideological incommensurability of the worldviews or master narratives represented by the two opposing superpowers during the Cold War and embodied in the image of an impenetrable iron curtain gave particular salience to translation theory while also questioning the very possibility of translation. At the same time, the neoimperialist projects of the two superpowers produced startlingly similar approaches to the instrumentalization of translation as a vehicle for propaganda and diplomacy. Presenting polarization as a distinct state of semiosis, the effects of which are highly unpredictable, this article explores the various ways in which the radical polarization of the Cold War shaped the theory and practice of translation both within and across the ideological divide. Plotting the entanglements of the light and dark sides of translation during this time challenges traditional histories of the field that construe the period as one of progress and liberation.

Translating (Political) religious and secularist worldviews in a post-secular age

Inspired by the works of François Burgat, Jürgen Habermas and Jean-Marc Ferry, this paper addresses the notions of the religious, the political, the radical/extreme, the conservative, the secular and the social as the objects of an extended conception of translation that defines translation as a mode of intercomprehension between competing or adversary groups within a single or among diverse societies. Shifting focus away from textual manipulations, it conceives of translation as a form of active engagement in social and discursive negotiations and explores translation as it brings about change in the dynamics of intergroup and intercultural relations.

Palimpsests of plague

This paper examines aspects of how language, translations, narratives, and plagues have been in interplay in the past, with a view to setting out some possible lessons for today. It looks at two types of practices. First, when people make plague-related translations of texts with religious or medical content from one language to another, producing and reproducing texts that enjoy certain forms of persisting authority in guiding thought and practice related to handling and making sense of major disease outbreaks. Second, when people turn plague phenomena into narratives with story arcs, narratives which can endure over time and shape subsequent understandings of later outbreaks. Despite more complexity and multiplicity in social configurations and communications today, many of the phenomena concerning translation and narration that have happened in plague scenarios of the past have again played out during the Covid-19 pandemic, albeit with distinctive modern colourings.

From translation zone to sacrifice zone

One of the most extreme challenges facing humanity at present is the climate crisis. Responding appropriately to this crisis requires a fundamental re-examination of received ways of thinking about translation, among other things. Contrasting the eco-minor with the eco-major mode of representing ecological crisis, we argue for the importance of minority perspectives in developing an expanded remit for translation studies in the context of the climate emergency. The concepts of relational and situational minority are advanced to explore how indigenous translation hermeneutics can inform climate debates. In line with environmental debates around the importance of ‘thinking outdoors’, we advocate for a notion of ‘translating outdoors’ and seek to incorporate this line of enquiry into the development of the concept of the city as more-than-human translation zone. In the coming age of extreme climate conditions, no socially responsible understanding of translation can afford to ignore ecological perspectives on the practice.