CRLCC - Centre for Research on Language and Culture Contact

WEBINAR : Michel Tremblay: Plays in Scots, a conversation with the translator Martin Bowman, Jane Koustas, Janusz Przychodzeń and Nicole Nolette (moderator)

Friday October 20, 2023
1:30-3:00pm

Registration: https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XKDRppcrQcqN3IPITrvDeQ

Michel Tremblay: Plays in Scots, edited by Martin Bowman, is a two-volume set of the translations by Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay of eight plays by Michel Tremblay translated from joual, the vernacular French of Montreal, into contemporary urban Scots. Between 1989 and 2003, these translations received professional productions in major theatres in Scotland, and several of them toured beyond Scotland to Montreal, Toronto, New York State, and London. Michel Tremblay’s exceptional plays found a second home in their Scots guise, emphasizing the political and cultural resonance between Quebec and Scotland. Unlike most translations of plays into Scots, these scripts are not adaptations. Keeping the plays in their original setting, the translators set out to show that a play in Scots does not have to be set in Scotland or have Scottish characters. In 2007 The Scotsman of Edinburgh described the première of The Guid Sisters, the first of the plays by Michel Tremblay to be translated into Scots, as one of the top twenty Scottish theatre events of all time. In addition to editing the scripts, Martin Bowman has provided ten introductory essays: one to each volume as a whole and one to each of the eight scripts. These introductions (125 pages) document the extraordinary success in Scotland of Michel Tremblay and, in so doing, provide a comprehensive work about collaborative translation and the use of vernacular languages in translations for the theatre.


Bowman, Martin, ed. (2023), Michel Tremblay: Plays in Scots. Volume One and Volume Two, Translated by Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literature (ASL). https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/other_titles/michel-tremblay-plays-in-scots-volume-1/
***

Born in Montreal of Scottish parents, Martin Bowman is a theater translator specializing in vernacular languages. He holds an MA in English literature from the McGill University and a Ph.D. from the University of Montreal. While completing his Ph.D. research at the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University, he met Bill Findlay. The very first evening they spent together they decided to translate Michel Tremblay’s ground-breaking play, Les Belles-Sœurs. Ten years passed before the translation, entitled The Guid Sisters, received a professional production directed by Michael Boyd at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow in 1989. Bowman and Findlay, who died in 2005, went on to translate another seven plays by Michel Tremblay, who became for a time the most frequently produced contemporary playwright in Scotland. They also translated three plays by other Quebec playwrights, including Jeanne-Mance Delisle’s The Reel of the Hanged Man. On his own, Bowman translated into Scots Delisle`s Un Oiseau vivant dans la gu**le. With Wajdi Mouawad he co-translated into French Harry Gibson`s dramatic adaptation of Irvine Welsh`s novel, Trainspotting, and Enda Walsh's Disco Pigs. In 2007, he was awarded the Medal of the Faculty of Arts and Science by the University of Montreal in recognition of his contribution to Quebec culture internationally through theatre translations. In 2023, Michel Tremblay: Plays in Scots, containing the eight translations of Michel Tremblay by Bowman and Findlay, was published in two volumes by the Association for Scottish Literature in Glasgow.

Jane Koustas is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario where she also directed Canadian Studies. She served as the Craig Dobbin Professor of Canadian Studies at University College Dublin. She currently serves as the President of the International Council for Canadian Studies. Professor Koustas’ research interests include English-Canadian literature in translation, translation theory and practice, translation history in Canada, Quebec and Irish theatre and theatre translation. In 2017, she was granted the James A. Flaherty Visiting Professorship to pursue a comparative study of Quebec and Irish theatre. Professor Koustas was awarded the Governor General’s Award for International Canadian Studies in 2022.

Nicole Nolette is the Canada Research Chair in Minority Studies (SSRHC, Tier 2) and an Associate Professor at the Department of French Studies at the University of Waterloo. Her first book, Jouer la traduction. Théâtre et hétérolinguisme au Canada francophone, published with the University of Ottawa Press in 2015, received the Ann Saddlemyer Award from the Canadian Association for Theatre Research in 2016 and the Award for the Best Work in Theatre (2014-2016) from the Société québécoise d’études théâtrales. Her second book, Traverser Toronto. Récits urbains de traduction théâtrale, is forthcoming with the Presses de l’Université de Montréal.

Janusz Przychodzen obtained his PhD from McGill University and was granted postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Toronto. In 2007, he began his academic career at York University. Professor Janusz Przychodzen is the author of three monographs on literary theory and Quebec literature, has co-edited and edited nine books on the aesthetics and poetics of ordinary language from a transdisciplinary perspective, Quebec literature and social discourse analysis. He has contributed to numerous book chapters, articles in peer-reviewed journals, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. He has also presented papers internationally, given guest speeches in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, and led research projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). His research expertise encompasses Canada-Asia intercultural relations, as well as the imaginary of the Americas and the Caribbean.

WEBINAIRE : Michel Tremblay: Plays in Scots, une conversation avec le traducteur Martin Bowman, Jane Koustas, Janusz Przychodzeń et Nicole Nolette (modératrice)

Le vendredi 20 octobre 2023
13 h 30 – 15 h HAE

Inscription : https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XKDRppcrQcqN3IPITrvDeQ

Michel Tremblay : Plays in Scots, édité par Martin Bowman, est un ouvrage en deux volumes, réunissant les traductions de Martin Bowman et Bill Findlay de huit pièces de Michel Tremblay du joual, le français vernaculaire de Montréal, vers l'écossais urbain contemporain. Entre 1989 et 2003, ces traductions ont été produites professionnellement dans les principaux théâtres écossais, et plusieurs d'entre elles ont tourné au-delà de l'Écosse, jusqu’à Montréal, Toronto, New York et Londres. Les célèbres pièces de Michel Tremblay ont trouvé une seconde patrie dans leurs versions écossaises, soulignant les résonances politiques et culturelles entre le Québec et l'Écosse. Contrairement à la plupart des traductions théâtrales en écossais, ces textes ne sont pas des adaptations. En respectant le cadre original, les traducteurs ont voulu montrer qu'une pièce en écossais n'avait pas besoin de se dérouler en Écosse, ni d'avoir des personnages écossais. En 2007, le journal The Scotsman of Edinburgh a décrit la première de The Guid Sisters, la toute première pièce de Michel Tremblay traduite en écossais, comme l'un des vingt meilleurs événements théâtraux écossais de tous les temps. Outre l'édition des textes, Martin Bowman a rédigé dix essais introductifs : un pour l'ensemble du volume et un pour chacune des huit traductions. Ces introductions de 125 pages documentent l'extraordinaire succès de Michel Tremblay en Écosse et, ce faisant, relatent en détails le travail sur la traduction collaborative et sur l'utilisation des langues vernaculaires dans les traductions pour la scène.

Bowman, Martin, éd. (2023), Michel Tremblay: Plays in Scots. Vol. 1 et 2, tr. Martin Bowman et Bill Findlay. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literature (ASL). https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/other_titles/michel-tremblay-plays-in-scots-volume-1/
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Né à Montréal de parents écossais, Martin Bowman est un traducteur de théâtre spécialisé dans les langues vernaculaires. Il est titulaire d'une maîtrise en littérature anglaise de l'Université McGill et d'un doctorat de l'Université de Montréal. Alors qu'il effectuait ses recherches doctorales à l’École d’études écossaises à l'Université d'Édimbourg, il a rencontré Bill Findlay. Dès leur première soirée ensemble, ils décident de traduire Les Belles-Sœurs, pièce révolutionnaire de Michel Tremblay. Dix ans se sont écoulés avant que la traduction, intitulée The Guid Sisters, ne fasse l'objet d'une production professionnelle mise en scène par Michael Boyd au Tron Theatre de Glasgow en 1989. Bowman et Findlay, qui est décédé en 2005, ont ensuite traduit sept autres pièces de Michel Tremblay qui est devenu pendant un certain temps le dramaturge contemporain le plus joué en Écosse. Ils ont également traduit trois pièces d'autres dramaturges québécois, dont The Reel of the Hanged Man de Jeanne-Mance Delisle. Seul, Bowman a traduit en écossais Un Oiseau vivant dans la gu**le de la même dramaturge. Avec Wajdi Mouawad, il a co-traduit en français l'adaptation dramatique du roman d'Irvine Welsh Trainspotting effectuée par Harry Gibson et Disco Pigs d'Enda Walsh. En 2007, l'Université de Montréal lui a décerné la Médaille de la Faculté des arts et des sciences en reconnaissance de sa contribution à la culture québécoise à l'échelle internationale par le biais de traductions théâtrales. En 2023, la Scottish Literature Association de Glasgow a publié les huit traductions de Michel Tremblay par Bowman et Findlay en deux volumes sous le titre Michel Tremblay : Plays in Scots.

Jane Koustas est professeure émérite au Département des langues et littératures modernes de l'Université Brock à St. Catharines (Ontario) où elle a également dirigé le Département d'études canadiennes. Elle a été titulaire de la Chaire Craig-Dobbin en études canadiennes au Collège universitaire de Dublin. Elle est actuellement présidente du Conseil international d'études canadiennes. Ses recherches portent sur la littérature canadienne-anglaise en traduction, la théorie et la pratique de la traduction, l'histoire de la traduction au Canada, le théâtre québécois et irlandais et la traduction théâtrale. En 2017, elle a obtenu une bourse de James A. Flaherty à titre de professeure invitée pour poursuivre une étude comparative du théâtre québécois et irlandais. Professeure Koustas a reçu le Prix du Gouverneur général en études internationales canadiennes en 2022.

Nicole Nolette est titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en études des minorités (CRSH niveau 2) et professeure agrégée en études françaises à l'Université de Waterloo. Son premier livre Jouer la traduction. Théâtre et hétérolinguisme au Canada francophone, publié aux Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa en 2015, a reçu le prix Ann Saddlemyer de l'Association canadienne de la recherche théâtrale en 2016 et le prix du meilleur ouvrage en théâtre de la Société québécoise d'études théâtrales pour la période 2014-2016. Son deuxième livre Traverser Toronto. Récits urbains de traduction théâtrale est à paraître aux Presses de l'Université de Montréal.

Janusz Przychodzen a obtenu son doctorat à l'Université McGill et a été chercheur postdoctoral à l'Université de Californie à Berkeley et à l'Université de Toronto. En 2007, il a commencé sa carrière universitaire à l'Université York. Professeur Przychodzen est l'auteur de trois monographies sur la théorie littéraire et la littérature québécoise. Il a édité et coédité neuf livres sur l'esthétique et la poétique du langage ordinaire dans une perspective transdisciplinaire, la littérature québécoise et l'analyse du discours social. Il a contribué à de nombreux chapitres de livres, articles dans des revues à comité de lecture, dictionnaires et encyclopédies. Il a également présenté des communications à l'échelle internationale, donné des conférences à titre d'invité en Amérique du Nord, en Amérique du Sud, en Europe et en Asie, et dirigé des projets de recherche financés par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada (CRSH). Ses recherches portent sur les relations interculturelles entre le Canada et l'Asie, ainsi que sur l'imaginaire des Amériques et des Caraïbes.

Événement hybride

Translation, Conflict, and Mediation:
How Translators “Re-narrate” the Conflict

Hind Ben Salama
Le mardi 16 mai 2023
12 h – 13 h 30
Collège Glendon
YH A222
Lien Zoom :
https://yorku.zoom.us/j/96231425653?pwd=ckhhbk53WlJ5dnA1TXZBcTI1QkRTdz09

Au cours des soixante-treize dernières années, le conflit israélo-palestinien a été raconté et re-raconté maintes fois. Dans cet exposé, nous examinerons donc comment les traducteurs re-racontent ce conflit en fonction de leur "lieu narratif" (Baker 2006). Dans une analyse comparative des traductions arabe et française de Footnotes in Gaza, roman graphique de reportage de Joe Sacco (2009), nous verrons comment le conflit est re-narré par le traducteur activiste palestinien Mohammad Tawfiq Al-Bujairami et la traductrice française Sidonie Van den Dries qui est extérieure à ce conflit. Étant donné que les traducteurs dans les zones de conflit sont confrontés à des récits conflictuels et concurrentiels, nous chercherons également à savoir s'ils peuvent agir en tant que médiateurs. Notre analyse montre finalement que les deux traducteurs re-racontent le conflit israélo-palestinien différemment. Alors que le traducteur activiste palestinien, qui considère la traduction comme un "site" de résistance, se détache radicalement du texte source, la traductrice française, quant à elle, adopte une position "neutre" en recréant intégralement le texte source. Notre analyse suggère également que la "neutralité" de la traduction ne conduit pas nécessairement à une médiation réussie entre les récits conflictuels. Au contraire, la "neutralité" perpétue le déséquilibre de pouvoir. Une médiation réussie serait donc celle qui "autonomiserait" les moins puissants et qui "donnerait la parole" à ceux et celles qui n’arrivent pas nécessairement à se faire entendre.

Hind Ben Salama fait son doctorat au Département des humanités à l’Université York. Elle est détentrice d'une maîtrise en traductologie du Collège Glendon de l'Université York. Elle est également titulaire d'une maîtrise et d'une licence en traduction et interprétation de l'Université d'Alger en Algérie. Elle travaille actuellement comme assistante de recherche et assistante à l’enseignement. Forte d'une vaste expérience en tant que traductrice trilingue (arabe, français et anglais), elle est candidate à l’agrément de l’ATIO. Ses recherches portent principalement sur l'autotraduction, les conflits, l'exil et l'identité. En bref, elle s'intéresse à la manière dont les conflits armés et les expériences traumatiques, telles que l'exil et la condition de réfugié, ont un impact sur l’identité. Sa plus récente contribution à la série Routledge Multimodality s'intitule "Translation, Conflict, and Mediation : How Translators Re-narrate the Conflict" et sera publiée en 2023/2024.

Translation, Conflict, and Mediation: How Translators “Re-narrate” the Conflict

Hind Ben Salama
Tuesday, May 16, 2023,
12 pm - 1:30 pm
Glendon College
YH A222

The story of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has had multiple narrators and re-narrators over the past seventy-three years. In this Talk, we will discuss how translators re-narrate this conflict according to their “narrative location” (Baker 2006). In a comparative analysis of the Arabic and French translations of Footnotes in Gaza, a journalistic graphic book by Joe Sacco (2009), we will see how Mohammad Tawfiq Al-Bujairami, a Palestinian activist translator, and Sidonie Van den Dries, an external translator, re-narrate this conflict. Since translators in conflict zones deal with conflictual and competitive narratives, we will also find out whether they can act as mediators. The findings show that translators re-narrate the Palestinian-Israeli conflict differently. While the Palestinian activist translator - who considers translation as a “site” of resistance - radically detaches himself from the source text, the French external translator - who adopts a “neutral” stance towards the conflict - fully re-embodies the source text. The findings also suggest that “neutrality” in translation does not necessarily lead to a successful mediation between the conflictual narratives. On the contrary, “neutrality” perpetuates the imbalance of powers. A successful mediation is, therefore, one that “empowers” the less powerful and “gives voice” to the less heard.

Hind Ben Salama is a Ph.D. student in Humanities at York University. She has a Master of Arts in Translation Studies from Glendon College, York University. She also holds a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Translation and Interpretation from the University of Algiers, Algeria. She is currently working as a Research Assistant and a Teaching Assistant at York University. With extensive experience as a trilingual translator (Arabic, French and English), she is a candidate for ATIO certification. Her research interests are mostly related to self-translation, conflict, exile, and identity. In short, she is interested in how armed conflicts and traumatic experiences, such as exile and refugeeism, impact our identity. Her recent contribution to the Routledge Multimodality series is entitled "Translation, Conflict, and Mediation: How Translators Re-narrate the Conflict" and will be published in 2023/2024.
Zoom link:
https://yorku.zoom.us/j/96231425653?pwd=ckhhbk53WlJ5dnA1TXZBcTI1QkRTdz09

Everything Returns: A Conversation with Black Ox Orkestar and Rokhl Kafrissen

Virtual Event

Thursday April 20, 3:00-4:15pm

Registration: https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5NOeX192QS2gmua_I2v1pg


Join avant-Yiddish group Black Ox Orkestar and journalist-playwright Rokhl Kafrissen for a wide-ranging online conversation and Q&A about the band’s past and present work.

In the early 2000s, Montreal group Black Ox Orkestar became known for its blend of evocative klezmer-balkan instrumentals and politically-engaged Yiddish song. Comprised of singer/multi-instrumentalist Scott Gilmore, bassist Thierry Amar, clarinettist Gabriel Levine, and violinist Jessica Moss, the band released two influential albums on Constellation Records, Ver Tanzt (2004) and Nisht Azoy (2006), before going their separate ways. Fifteen years later, in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the members of Black Ox reconnected virtually, began sharing and playing new music, and eventually convened in Montreal to record their third album during the final weeks of 2021.

Everything Returns, released by Constellation in December 2022, picks up where they left off, with simmering multilingual ballads (in Yiddish and English, along with French, Arabic, German) and alternately rousing and elegiac instrumentals. The record has been described as “hauntingly beautiful” (Bandcamp, Album of the Day), “a series of dark chansons imbued with rich melancholy” (MOJO), and the band’s “richest, most affecting music yet… an ambitious and unusual album that rewards focused attention” (Wall Street Journal). While Everything Returns is anchored in Jewish musical and linguistic traditions, “its message of strength, compassion, and defiance is universal” (Chicago Reader).

In this wide-ranging conversation, journalist/playwright/Yiddishist Rokhl Kafrissen will join members of Black Ox Orkestar in reflecting on what it means to make multilingual Jewish music in a time of rising nationalism, on the powers and limits of “revival” and diasporic identity, and on how the band’s music has contributed to the flourishing of Yiddish art and culture in the early 21st century. Questions from the audience are welcome!

Sponsored by the Centre for Research on Language and Culture Contact (Glendon Campus of York University), and the Centre for Jewish Studies (York University).

***

Scott Gilmore is a human rights lawyer and multi-instrumentalist based in Washington, DC. He began performing with Black Ox Orkestar (songwriting, vocals, cimbalom, piano, mandolin) and A Silver Mount Zion while studying Yiddish at McGill University. As an international human rights lawyer, he has led war crimes investigations in Syria and Iraq; represented survivors of the Darfur and Yazidi genocides in transitional justice initiatives; and secured the first-ever judgment against the Syrian government for war crimes in Colvin v. Syrian Arab Republic. He is Of Counsel at the global claimants firm Hausfeld LLP and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University.

Rokhl Kafrissen is a New York-based cultural critic and playwright and winner of the 2022 Adrienne Cooper “Dreaming in Yiddish” prize. She has been writing about modern Yiddish culture since 2005, when her ‘Rootless Cosmopolitan’ column began in Jewish Currents. Her "Rokhl’s Golden City" column began appearing in Tablet in 2017, covering new Yiddish culture in all its iterations. Her op-eds regularly appear in newspapers all over the world. She was a 2019-2020 14th Street Y LABA fellow, for which she wrote Shtumer Shabes (Silent Sabbath), a black comedy about the dangers of ethnography and human experimentation.

Gabriel Levine is a Toronto-based writer, musician, teacher, theatre director, and puppetry creator/performer. As Assistant Professor of Drama and Creative Arts at Glendon Campus of York University, he is the author Art and Tradition in a Time of Uprisings (MIT Press 2020), and the co-editor of Practice (MIT Press/Whitechapel Gallery, 2018). His writing has appeared in publications including Performance Research, Liminalities, Journal of Curatorial Studies, and Canadian Theatre Review. He is co-founder and co-curator of the Concrete Cabaret collective and the OBJECTO Festival, which present experimental puppetry and object-performance to audiences in Toronto. He plays clarinet, bass clarinet, and guitar in Black Ox Orkestar, and is a founding member of the group.

Jessica Moss is a Montréal-based violinist and composer who began writing and performing solo work under her own name in 2014; she has since released five full-length albums, most recently Phosphenes (Constellation, 2021) and Galaxy Heart (Constellation, 2022). Moss uses amplified and processed violin (and voice) to create works of expressive electronic- and drone-inflected post-classical minimalism and maximalism, with a distinctive melodic sensibility that channels Klezmer, Balkan and Middle Eastern tropes, and an ear for textural grit and timbral noise forged from her 15-year tenure in political post-punk band Thee Silver Mt. Zion (2001-2016). She is a founding member of Black Ox Orkestar.

Everything Returns: Une conversation avec Black Ox Orkestar et Rokhl Kafrissen

Événement virtuel

Le jeudi 20 avril, 15 h – 16 h 15 HAE

Inscription :
https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5NOeX192QS2gmua_I2v1pg


Rejoignez-nous pour une riche conversation en ligne avec le groupe avant-yiddish Black Ox Orkestar et Rokhl Kafrissen, journaliste et dramaturge, suivie d'une séance de questions et de réponses sur le travail accompli et en cours du groupe.

Au début des années 2000, le groupe montréalais Black Ox Orkestar a gagné en notoriété grâce à son mélange d’instrumentaux klezmer-balkan expressifs et de chansons yiddish engagées politiquement. La formation, qui comprend le chanteur et multi-instrumentiste Scott Gilmore, le bassiste Thierry Amar, le clarinettiste Gabriel Levine et la violoniste Jessica Moss, a sorti deux albums marquants chez Constellation Records, Ver Tanzt (2004) et Nisht Azoy (2006), avant de se séparer. Quinze ans plus t**d, au début de la pandémie de Covid-19, les membres de Black Ox se retrouvent virtuellement et commencent à partager et à jouer de la nouvelle musique. Ils se réunissent enfin à Montréal pour enregistrer leur troisième album dans les dernières semaines de 2021.

Sorti en décembre 2022 chez Constellation, l'album Everything Returns, reprend là où le groupe s'était arrêté, avec des ballades multilingues bouillonnantes (en yiddish et en anglais, ainsi qu'en français, en arabe et en allemand) et des instrumentaux tour à tour entraînants et plaintifs. Selon Bandcamp (Album of the Day), l'album est « d'une beauté obsédante », tandis que MOJO le décrit comme "série de chansons sombres imprégnées d'une riche mélancolie ». Le Wall Street Journal, quant à lui, considère que c’est « la musique la plus riche et la plus touchante du groupe à ce jour... un album ambitieux et inhabituel qui mérite une attention particulière ». Bien que Everything Returns soit enraciné dans les traditions musicales et linguistiques juives, "son message de force, de compassion et de bravoure est universel" (Chicago Reader).

Dans cette discussion qui se veut fouillée, la journaliste, dramaturge et yiddishiste Rokhl Kafrissen sera accompagnée des membres du Black Ox Orkestar pour explorer l'importance de la création d'une musique juive multilingue à une époque de nationalisme croissant. Ils discuteront également du potentiel et des contraintes du « renouveau » et de l'identité diasporique, ainsi que de la contribution du groupe à l'épanouissement de l'art et de la culture yiddish au début du XXIe siècle. Le public sera invité à poser des questions tout au long de la conversation.

L’événement est soutenu par le Centre de recherche sur le contact des langues et des cultures (Collège universitaire Glendon de l’Université York) et du Centre d’études juives (Université York).

Le festival de la recherche de Glendon commence maintenant ! Venez découvrir les événements du CRLCC pour aujourd'hui.
https://yorku.zoom.us/j/95464669538?pwd=ZmlsajFpVjV5aXpMRXJaNFIwWE5DQT09
ID de la réunion: 954 6466 9538
Mot de passe: 859651

The Glendon's research festival is happening now ! Come discover the CRLCC events for today.
https://yorku.zoom.us/j/95464669538?pwd=ZmlsajFpVjV5aXpMRXJaNFIwWE5DQT09
Meeting ID: 954 6466 9538
Passcode: 859651

The CRLCC invites you to its Meet and Greet !
Come and meet the members of the community and exchange over light refreshments !
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Le CRLCC vous invite à son Meet and Greet !
Venez rencontrer les membres de la communauté et échanger autour de légers rafraîchissements.

At a time of intensified attention to the colonial foundations of our knowledge systems, the language- and text- based way in which translation is commonly theorized has clearly become inadequate to account for the onto-epistemological complexities of the translative act. This paper seeks to reflect on the ethics of decolonial translation by way of reflecting on the case of the unauthorized Italian translation of NourbeSe Philip’s multilingual poem Zong!. I examine the deep wounds, ambivalence, and affective entanglements drawn out by the case and its urgent call to rethink care and accountability in translation. Such work of care in translation requires, I argue, a deep affective release of the aspirational goal of establishing universality in translation and a renewed ethical engagement with incommensurables among languages and cultures affected by neocolonial globalization in grossly unequal ways.

Elena Basile is a teacher, researcher, and translator – sometimes poet. She teaches literature, communications, sexuality studies, and translation studies at the University of Toronto and at York University. She collaborates regularly with artists and academics in Italy, Canada and in France. Her present research focuses on questions pertaining to dynamics of languaging in the context of experimental poetries and art practices working within and across multiple translation zones. Among her latest contributions is an anthology co-edited with Eva Karpinski of Barbara Godard’s writings Translation, Semiotics and Feminism (Routledge, 2022). In the Fall of 2021 she became aware of the controversy that erupted in Italy around the unauthorized translation of NourbeSe Philip’s long poem Zong! and felt compelled to intervene in the discussion in order to interrogate the pervasive colonial assumptions and insidious anti-Black racism underpinning much of the arguments in defense of the Italian translation. This led to an interview with Philip, which was streamed on YouTube. Subsequently she published an article about the need to engage in decolonial practices of translation on the Italian literary magazine Pulp Libri.
This presentation is part of her ongoing and evolving reflection on the events.

Registration for the third Our Language Rights Canada Conference for Language Advocacy Day is now open!

The Our Language Rights Canada Conference, sponsored by MCIS Language Solutions and organized by the Language Access Coalition of Canada (LACC), is envisioned as a gathering place for language rights advocates and stakeholders – individuals, institutions, and organizations (profit, non-profit, NGOs), academia and various levels of government - who are passionate about official, Indigenous, and non-official languages spoken in Canada. The Conference also provides opportunities to meet, share, learn about and collaborate on projects that promote language rights and linguistic justice advocacy across Canada. This Conference is a free, virtual event simultaneously interpreted in both official languages as well as American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ).

This year’s theme “Language, Education, Stories Untold” highlights the important role that language education and stories play in preserving culture, history, and fostering a sense of belonging and deeper human connection. As an essential mediator of access to essential services, critical information and civic participation, languages are also the subject of often overlooked or even ignored personal stories best told by those who face language barriers - individuals, organizations, and the language professionals that support them.

To highlight the contribution of the Coalition members that have been supporting LACC’s efforts since early 2020, this year we are thrilled to introduce a brand new “marketplace” feature to learn more about language industry organizations, both for-profit and non-profit, who are committed to their social purpose and the creation of social value and social capital. An initiative that began with a small group of enthusiasts in Ontario, spreading advocacy and policy change by meeting with MPPs to discuss language accessibility in the province year after year, has reached new supporters and language advocates, in other provinces across Canada, including Alberta and New Brunswick. This year we will introduce voices from several provinces highlighting untold stories of our many languages spoken on one shared land

Registration now open here. https://languageadvocacyday.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cc993d67adbd717ea54b05b18&id=e13f2f3465&e=cee2aaae44

Stay tuned for exciting updates on speakers, content, and more!