Why is it important to study volunteer translation from an autoethnographic perspective?
| Dates: | 9 March 2023 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 15:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Humanities |
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| Venue opening hours: | 14:00-15:30 |
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| How much: | Free |
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| Speaker: | Lucile Davier |
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Join us for a CTIS research seminar: Why is it important to study volunteer translation from an autoethnographic perspective?
Abstract: June 2020. I’m lying in my bed, listening to my daughters’ quiet breath, anxious about climate change. Do I need to become a climate activist? Or can I contribute to shaping the future of the world as a translation scholar? In September 2020, I decided to translate and proofread texts for an organization that supports vegetarian and vegan lifestyles in Switzerland and conduct a study about this experience. During fieldwork, I gathered data through in-depth interviews with members of the team and volunteer translators, participant observations, and a research diary that I have kept since September 2020. In this lecture, I will take you on a tour of my study to illustrate the connections between volunteer translation, engaged translation, and autoethnography. First, I will situate my research at the crossroads between volunteer translation and activist translation. I will show how these two subfields call for a stronger focus on reflexivity because they demonstrate the need to reveal the presuppositions of committed scholars, discuss their emotional involvement with the field, and cope with ethical challenges. Next, I will show how autoethnography, a combination of ethnography and autobiographic writing, can respond to the numerous challenges of committed and volunteer translation because of the centrality of reflexivity in this practice. Autoethnography requires researchers to explicitly state their personal commitments, discuss the subjectivity they share with research participants, and continuously assess the ethical implications of their interactions with the field.
Speaker
Lucile Davier
Role: Speaker
Organisation: University of Geneva
Biography: Lucile Davier is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (University of Geneva). She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa, Canada (2016-2017), and a visiting scholar at the University of Leuven, Belgium (2012-2013). In 2013, she earned a joint doctoral degree in translation studies and communication studies (University of Geneva and University of Paris 3). Her research interests include translation ethnography, non-professional translation, and news translation.
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Moseley Theatre
Schuster Building
Manchester
