Lecture by Şebnem Susam-Saraeva
12.07.2021 - 11:00 Turkish time 

Zoom ID: 99850298509
Passcode: 554454

Translation and representation of experiential knowledge: issues of identity, power and diversity 

This session will focus on the recent discussions in Western translation industry regarding issues of representation, identity, power, and diversity. It will first focus on the difficulties of translating texts based on experiential and corporeal knowledge, such as personal narratives or witness accounts. It will raise questions, such as: do we need translators/interpreters with supposedly "analogous" life experiences to source authors/speakers? Who has "the right" to translate/interpret/represent whom? These questions will be elaborated on using the concepts 'secondary-witness' and 'debriefing', as well as examples from research on translation of childbirth narratives and recent debates in the film industry regarding representation. 

Şebnem Susam-Saraeva is a Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. Her research interests have included gender and translation, retranslations, translation of literary and cultural theories, research methodology in translation studies, internationalization of the discipline, translation and popular music, translation and social movements, and translation and maternal & infant health. She is the author of Translation and Popular Music. Transcultural Intimacy in Turkish-Greek Relations (2015) and Theories on the Move. Translation's Role in the Travels of Literary Theories (2006), and guest-editor of Translation and Music (2008) and Non-Professionals Translating and Interpreting. Participatory and Engaged Perspectives (2012, with Luis Pérez-González). Beyond the University of Edinburgh, she is the Chair of the ARTIS Steering Committee (Advancing Research in Translation and Interpreting Studies, https://artisinitiative.org/).

Susam-Saraeva's literary translations into Turkish include Kazuo Ishiguro's 1989 Booker Prize Winner The Remains of the Day (1993), which went into its 12th reprint in 2019. She is also the winner of PEN Wales Translation Challenge 2017 with her poetry translation from Küçük İskender.