WLB105, Shaw Campus, HKBU
As Cristina Marinetti argues, "The concept of performativity itself has to
be fully articulated in relation to translation" yet performativity has only
recently begun to cross paths with Translation Studies, particularly with a
focus on the translator's agency or identity and on translation as embodied
epistemologies and aesthetics. A special issue on the subject is forthcoming
in the journal Target 25:3, dedicated to the role of translation and
performativity in the theatre.

Performativity intersects with Translation in a number of ways: Sherry Simon
(1998) and Edwin Gentzler (2008) discuss the adoption of a performative
perspective "especially in relation to unpacking notions of identity" (Simon
1998; Gentzler 2008). Douglas Robinson discusses the "performative
linguistics of translation" that is, "translating as doing","doing
something to the target reader". He also mentions "Translating as
colonizing, or as fighting the lingering effects of colonialism; translating
as resisting global capitalism, translating as fighting patriarchy, as
liberating women (and men) from patriarchal gender roles the translator
as a doer, an actor on variously conceived cultural, professional, and
cognitive stages". (Robinson 2003).
Performativity has yet to be explored in other areas of Translation Studies:
Dubbing and Subtitling, where the on-screen words or those the actors mouth
reperform, closely or not so closely, those of the original; the
Translator's Preface and other paratexts, which introduce a second
performance to the original, supporting, contradicting, directing, or
diverting the reader from the original text; Natural Translation, where,
within the immigrant family, the language performance skills of the child
may give him or her enormous power; translation for a specialized audience
such as children or the deaf, where the translation must perform a role to
construct a specific relationship; and, last but not least, in Interpreting
Studies, where the theatrical performance of the consecutive interpreter has
generally been replaced by the instantaneous performance of the conference
interpreter ­ but can the interpreter remain neutral, a mere conduit for the
ideas of the speaker, or may some kind of bias seep in to the interpreter¹s
performance, as may happen in the cases of many community interpreters?
This two day colloquium invites contributions from scholars on the various
contexts of Performativity within Translation and Interpreting Studies.
The colloquium will also commemorate the immense contribution to Translation
Studies in Hong Kong of Prof. Martha Cheung, whose groundbreaking
scholarship shed important light on the historical and methodological
positioning not only of the translator but of the translation studies
scholar as well and introduced Chinese theories on Translation to many
scholars outside the Chinese world.

Some of these contexts are:
1. Theories of Performativity and their link to Translation Studies.
2. Performativity in Theatre Translation.
3. Performativity in Audiovisual Translation.
4. Performativity and Translation in New Technologies.
5. The Translator as Performing Agent.
6. Performativity in Interpreting Studies.
7. The Literary Translator as Performer.
8. Performativity in Translation in different historical periods.
9. Performativity and Translation at the borders.
10. Performativity and Gender in Translation.
11. Periperformativity as "performing the crowd".

Invited scholars include Douglas Robinson, John Corbett, and Lawrence Wong.
Please send proposals for papers (approximately 300 words) to Dennitza
Gabrakova <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. <mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>and John
Milton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. <mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> by 25 November 2013.