The ‘growth’ of Translation Studies: View from Asia

Even if a theory claims to be universal, according to Said (1983) it will alter when applied to a different location or era since all theories are “worldly,” or historically contextual. Said is of the opinion that no system or theory can exhaust the environment from which it comes or to which it is moved, despite the fact that transfers have the potential to diminish and institutionalise strong ideas. The same applies to Translation Studies (TS), its theories and practices. Although TS has largely centred around the Western epistemological discourses on translation, the discipline has seen rapid growth in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Recent researches on mapping the intellectual structures and research trends in TS (Pan & Wu 2023; Lee & Wan 2018) have dealt with keyword analysis, research sub-areas and institutional factors proving that TS has continued to flourish outside the Western world. Considering the interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary tendencies inherent in TS, scholars have also talked about the changing landscape of TS vis-à-vis the changes in the thematic concepts, methods and approaches thereby making translation “more fluid while scholars in TS are becoming more nomadic (in their affiliations and between disciplines) (Gambier 2023).

This panel will enquire into the growth of translation studies as a discipline, especially in Asian academic circles and will try to investigate whether the growth is taking place considering the local ethos and taking the situational realities in its purview or the development of the field in Asian land is orchestrated by reinforcing the western hegemony of the discipline through the channel of ‘globalisation’. Since ‘translation’ as an act oscillates between the ‘present’ and the ‘past’, with shifts and overlaps in paradigm, this panel would also like to inquire into the historiography of the discipline in Asia and its future perspectives and challenges.

This seminar, organised by the International Comparative Literature Association  (ICLA) Translation Studies Research Committee, invites abstracts interrogating the disciplinal growth of Translation Studies especially in Asia and considers themes including but not limited to the following:

Asian Translation Studies

Translation Studies: Local vs Global

Trajectory of the Discipline

Future of Translation Studies

Metahistoriography/ Historiographical Methods of TS

Multidisciplinary nature and continuous paradigm shifts of TS

Institutionalization of TS in non-western countries

Challenges (internal/external) faced by TS in Asia today

Importance of collaboration in translation

Abstracts of about 300 words along with a short bio-note of about 50 words may be submitted to rindon86@gmail.com.

The last date to send your abstract is 31st May 2024.

To access the specifics of the committee, please click on the provided link: https://www.ailc-icla.org/translation-committee/

This panel is part of the XVII Biennial International Conference organised by the Comparative Literature Association of India in collaboration with the University of Delhi from 10th to 12th September 2024. For further information please visit: https://www.clai.in/upcoming-event/.