Nothing Happened: Translation Studies before James Holmes

Frequently rehearsed narratives of Translation Studies typically trace the origins of the discipline to James Holmes’s 1972 paper, ‘The Name and Nature of Translation Studies’, and suggest that little of interest happened prior to that date, or at least prior to the 1950s. Reflections on translation from earlier periods have been characterised as sterile, imprecise, or circular, or as taking place outside the bounds of academic or scientific endeavour. Teleological narratives of disciplinary progress and development have been widely reproduced and are rarely contested. 

Several attempts have been made to foreground the fact that Translation Studies is far more diverse than its established representation as a Western scholarly tradition that began in the 1970s (e.g. van Doorslaer and Naajkens 2021; Hang and Wakabayashi 2016; Schippel and Zwischenberger 2016; Ceccherelli, Costantino and Diddi 2015), but – as Yves Gambier (2021) has rightly concluded – the field has yet to ‘acknowledge the fragmented nature of its origins, traditions and filiations.’ 

As Brian Baer (2020) observes, the standard account of the discipline’s history constitutes a ‘mythhistory’, functioning to ‘supply a foundational narrative that helps a group of people to form a collective identity’, rather than to reflect the details of historical records more closely. Baer bases his own contestation of the dominant account on its geographical, even neo-imperialist, limitations, showing that extensive institutionally anchored translation and interpreting research was taking place in Eastern Europe from 1918 onwards. Other contestations, from other geographical perspectives, are also possible, as are challenges from within Western European or Anglo-American traditions.

This conference will explore the period in which ‘nothing happened’.

The two-day programme will include three lectures by our keynote speakers:

Theo Hermans: “Early Modern Differences”

Hephzibah Israel: “Speaking ‘different academic dialects’ on translation: Reflections on Disciplinary Formations”

Daniele Monticelli: “On the Advantages of Peripheries: Juri Lotman and Translation Studies

With 13 panel sessions in a hybrid format, the conference promises a deep exploration of often-neglected origins and historical insights from antiquity to the mid-20th century, encompassing regions across Europe, Asia, and more. Among the highlights of this scholarly event are two dedicated panel sessions, designed to delve into the ground-breaking developments in the field of Translation Studies in Ukraine before 1970s.

The conference is open to attendees, and we extend an invitation to all those who seek to expand their knowledge and contribute to the academic exchange.

To ensure your place, we encourage you to register by 29 October 2023 and secure your participation.

We look forward to your presence at the “Nothing Happened” conference!