Topic: Translation as a Social-Systemic Boundary Phenomenon
Speaker: Prof. Sergey Tyulenev, Durham University
Host: Porf. Quan Zhi, Faculty of International Studies
Time: Nov. 19th, 2022 (Saturday) 15:10-15:40
Platform and meeting ID: Tencent meeting, 580-960-001
Speaker：
Dr Sergey Tyulenev is Professor in Translation Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University, a guest professor at Nankai University, Tianjin, and Guangdong Foreign Studies University, Guangzhou, China, a member of the consultative TS committee at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge (UK) and at the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa). He taught in a number of universities around the world, among them: the University of Moscow, the University of Cambridge, McGill University. His scholarly interests include translation theory, the history of translation in Russia, the sociology of translation as well as the epistemology of translation research. He is the Editor of the Routledge series Introductions to Translation and Interpreting. His major publications include the following monographs: Theory of Translation (Moscow: Gardariki, 2004; currently being translated into Chinese for the Wuhan University Press); Applying Luhmann to Translation Studies (New York and London: Routledge, 2011); Translation and the Westernization of Eighteenth-Century Russia (Berlin: Frank & Timme, 2012); Translation and Society: An Introduction (London and New York: Routledge, 2014); Translation in the Public Sphere (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
abstract:
Modern society may be viewed as constituted of social systems (Luhmann). The social system regulates its existence via function subsystems, for instance politics, the economy, religion, arts, education. It also needs to interact with its social environment, other social systems around it. It does that via special structures which can be referred to as boundary phenomena. Translation is one of them.
Social-systemic boundaries have two layers – the internal (endohomorous) and the external (ectohomorous). Among the internal boundary phenomena, there are diplomacy, (counter)intelligence, military structures. However, to reach out to the home system’s environment, they need a social function system that is ‘located’ on the external layer of the social-systemic boundary – translation. Diplomats or military personnel can carry out their functions only indirectly, they need translators and interpreters, those who specialize in direct contacting the system’s ‘other’. Translators and interpreters work ectohomorously as the ‘frontpeople’ of their home social system.
In this talk, translation will be presented as a social-systemic boundary phenomenon. The focus will be on various scenarios of its involvement with the internal layer of the social-systemic boundary. Complex dynamics of its relationship with the other boundary phenomena will be discussed.
