Cfp: Extranslation In Theory And Practice: Representation Of Turkish Culture Through Translation

Translation of texts belonging to a specific culture leads to the promotion of this culture through the dissemination of its values, the creation of its image(s), which make it visible in the international arena. Germane to the point above is the concept of extranslation referring to the works translated from a specific language (in the case of this symposium from Turkish into other languages) and books exported from the respective country. It goes without saying that extranslation is an important part of cross-cultural exchange: the choice of a work to be translated is based, to a great extent, on the comparative significance of the source and target cultures such as power relations, ideological orientations, political decisions, and dominant discourses constructed by the cultures involved in the translation process.

In this context, the dissemination of Turkish culture in translation as a cultural product is paramount, given that people around the world construct insights and images of Turkey through their access to its texts, be it legal, literary, technical, scientific, and the like. In the world of international exchange of culture, how translation functions to create, change or maintain images and perceptions of Turkey abroad needs to be scrutinized in the light of how a wide-range of considerations (e.g. selection of texts to be translated, funding, publishing, marketing and reviewing) influence the transfer of Turkish culture.

These considerations call for a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the extranslation of Turkish culture, since it not only appeals to scholars and researchers in translation studies, but also to anyone who studies sociology, literature, culture, history, international relations, linguistics, terminology, and the like. In this context, this conference intends to shed light on the following questions:

A. PROCESS-ORIENTED CONSIDERATIONS

• What are the socio-political and ideological factors influencing the translation process in extranslation? How does translation serve to create and/or disseminate divergent representations and images of the Turkish identity abroad?
• What are the criteria used in the selection of works to be translated? How do the power dynamics between the two (Turkish and foreign) cultures influence the choice of the text to be translated?
• What/who are the actors (publishers, editors, institutions, agents, writers, translators, and culture workers) involved in the selection of works to be translated? How do national institutions (e.g. TEDA project conducted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Turkish Republic) use translation as a way of promoting a certain conceptualisation of Turkish national identity?
• What are the genres and authors selected for translation? Who are the most translated Turkish writers and why?

B. PRODUCT-ORIENTED CONSIDERATIONS

• What are the translation strategies (both textual and paratextual) used in the exportation of Turkish culture? How are the works of these writers translated (e.g. stylistic considerations, the considerations of the role of discourse in creating stereotypes, and the like)?
• Do extranslated works always represent a specific image of the Turkish culture? Are there certain shifts from the taken-for-granted representation of Turkey through translations?

C. RECEPTION-ORIENTED CONSIDERATIONS

• What is the role of translation in cultural diplomacy? In other words, how does translation serve as a tool of cultural diplomacy in the case of extranslation from Turkish?
• To what extent does the paratext surrounding translations influence the reception and perception of the works and/or Turkish culture?
• What are the effects and functions of the works translated from Turkish in the receiving culture?

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

All submissions will be peer reviewed, and selected papers will be published. Presentations will be 20 minutes long, followed by a 10-minute discussion; they can be given in English, German, French or Turkish. Proposals must include the following documents:

1. A 300-word abstract,
2. A 100-word bio-note.

Please send your proposal to this address: extranslationturkey@gmail.com

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 1 April 2015

Notification of acceptance: 30 April 2015

Early bird fee (until 15 August 2015): 100 Euros or 200 TL

Regular fee (after 15 August 2015): 150 Euros or 300 TL

Attendance without presentation (for those who request an attendance certificate): 80 Euros

IBAN Codes

Yapı Kredi Bankası (SWIFT code: YAPITRIS)

Turkish Lira: TR79 0006 7010 0000 0043 0250 63

EURO: TR79 0006 7010 0000 0080 4798 24

Student discount: 20 %

Full symposium details can be found at: [url=http://www.extranslationturkey.hacettepe.edu.tr]http://www.extranslationturkey.hacettepe.edu.tr[/url]

We would very much appreciate if you could disseminate the call for papers as widely as possible.

Scientific Committee:

Prof. Dr. Ayfer Altay (Hacettepe University)

Prof. Dr. Berrin Aksoy (Atılım University)

Prof. Dr. Asalet Erten (Hacettepe University)

Prof. Dr. Thierry Grass (Strasbourg University)

Prof. Dr. Jale Garibova (Azerbaijan University of Languages)

Dr. Nilüfer Demirkan-Jones (University of Essex)