Translational turn
From Geography
Turns are in fact reorientations or shifts in focal points in research, a kind of shift in perspective “in which the main points of focus are condensed into methodologically significant approaches of inquiry. In particular, one of the most recent turns is the translational turn. What gave rise to this turn towards translation?
Contents |
Defenition
Translational turn is defined as a turn in humanities. It's a proces that has also been advanced by the dynamics of other turns (Bachmann-Medick, 2009). As the name suggests it is mainly focused on the influence of language in cultural perspective. Translation becomes a condition for global relations of exchange (global translatability) and a medium to reveal cultural differences, power imbalances and scope for action (Bachmann-Medick, 2009). Culture itself is a product of translation conditions. From that point on a turn in humanities can be seen and studied. The studie of this 'happening' defines the translational turn.
The rise of the translational turn
One of the first steps toward a translational turn has already been taken, as translation has already proven to be a principle within cultural studies. Knowledge is thus seen to be gained by means of translation rather than by means of progression. The concept of culture has constantly changed around turns: from a text-oriented understanding of culture to a performative understanding, from holistic to hybrid, from contexts of meaning and discourses to practice and the dynamics of agency, from culture as text to culture as translation (Bachmann-Medick, 2009). The understanding of culture is therefore the result of an ongoing process. A translational turn also targets the problematic holistic notions of so-called identity politics and aims to recover translation as being capable of functioning within a global, transnational context—for instance through reversing the thus far unilaterally-orientated direction of translation, which is from European to non-European contexts. We can no longer assume cultures are holistic and self-contained, because cultures are fragmented and there are no given common grounds in terms of their context of meanings. Thus, cultures has turned out to be an ongoing translaton endeavor: due to the production of relationships and possibilities of connections between different social realms, groups and institutions.
References
- Bachmann-Medick, D. (2009) Introduction: The translational turn, International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture, University of Giessen, Germany
