Translation Studies has recently been searching for connections with Cultural Studies and Sociology. This volume brings together a range of ways in which the disciplines can be related, particularly with respect to research methodologies. The key aspects covered are the agents behind translation, the social histories revealed by translations, the perceived roles and values of translators in social contexts, the hidden power relations structuring publication contexts, and the need to review basic concepts of the way social and cultural systems work. Special importance is placed on Community Interpreting as a field of social complexity, the lessons of which can be applied in many other areas.

The volume studies translators and interpreters working in a wide range of contexts, ranging from censorship in East Germany to English translations in Gujarat. Major contributions are made by Agnès Whitfield, Daniel Gagnon, Franz Pöchhacker, Michaela Wolf, Pekka Kujamäki and Rita Kothari, with an extensive introduction on methodology by Anthony Pym.

Table of contents

Foreword vii Introduction: On the social and cultural in translation studies Anthony Pym 1-25 Agents behind translation Trends in the translation of a minority language: The case of Dutch Stella Linn 27-39 "Of course Germans have a certain interest in Finland, but…": Openness to Finnish literature in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s Pekka Kujamäki 41-52 Translation from the point of view of the East German censorship files Gaby Thomson-Wohlgemuth 53-64 Social histories Choosing not to translate: Zero translations in the first Portuguese Robinson Crusoe Maria Goreti Monteiro 65-72 From Robinson Crusoe to Robinson in Wallachia: The intricacies of the reception process Rodica Dimitriu 73-82 Perceived roles and values Translating from across the channel in nineteenth-century France: Philarète Chasles, Thackeray and Jules Janin Gabriel Louis Moyal 83-91 English translation in Gujarat: Emerging consensus Rita Kothari 93-99 Interaction of inner and outer contexts Between Translation and Traduction: The many paradoxes of Deux Solitudes Agnès Whitfield 101-116 Bilingual translation/writing as intercultural communication Daniel Gagnon 117-127 Power relations disclosed The female state of the art: Women in the "translation field" Michaela Wolf 129-141 Translation as discursive import: Changes in the transfer of proper nouns in Latvian Ieva Zauberga 143-150 Power distribution and cooperation "Translation culture" in interpreted asylum hearings Sonja Pöllabauer 151-162 Interpreting at an immigration detention center in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Communication and power Guillermo R. Navarro Montesdeoca 163-171 Negotiating linguistic and cultural identities in interpreter-mediated communication for public health services Mette Rudvin 173-190 Constructing systems Babel rebuilt: A survey of social welfare institutions and interpreting and translation services in Flanders Katrien Lannoy and Jan Van Gucht 191-200 From 10-minute wedding ceremonies to three-week spa treatment programs: Reconstructing the system of sign language interpreting in Styria Nadja Grbic 201-214 The view from Interpreting Studies "Going social?" On the pathways and paradigms in interpreting studies Franz Pöchhacker 215-232 Notes on contributors 233-236 References 237-252 Index 253-255