2014 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Contemporaneous Translation as an intermedial cultural practice: refinding relationships among hybrid cultural productions, the hyper-local environment, and the online network
| Project/Area Number |
26503012
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| Research Institution | International Christian University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | translation / Translation Studies / media / comparative literature / cultural studies / cultural translation |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The purpose of this project is to investigate the notion of contemporaneous translation and in the process try to answer the following question: as an intermedial and intercultural practice, how can translation create a tension between the network and the “hyper-local,” or embodied environment so that the way we interact with the power of the network can help us directed towards greater involvement with the hyper-local rather than online? Under study will be works and projects rooted in the hyper-local environment of historical and geographical specificity and found materials that use or are constituted of multiple media, and how they sound the hyper-local in multiple ways. The originality of this research is its initiation of the notion of contemporaneous translation as a generative site where stories are both specific and shared in a number of media at once. This positions translation as an intermedial cultural practice that expedites understanding of change in terms of relationships instead of being constrained by its stubborn association with a sense of loss, inferiority, or failure. It is expected that this research will draw attention to the hyper-local environment and community and the tangible tactile embodiment of handwriting; found materials; and sentient beings that therapeutically counters growing online dependencies.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The main focus of H２６（２０１４）in terms of research was to consolidate an archive of materials for study and in this regard, the research goals were fully accomplished. There were opportunities to present research findings, and exchange and develop ideas, and peruse archival material as planned. It was exciting to initiate discussion of the concept of contemporaneous translation internationally, and this year (H27 2015), this will continue. Funding for a planned symposium was moved to H27 due to scheduling problems, and will take place instead in the latter half of H27 (2015). For this reason, funds were carried forward; otherwise the activities of the year went successfully as planned. Research trips to Minamata to listen to storytellers and interact with place and people linked the ephemera of protest -- photographs, pamphelts, speeches, -- with the distinctly different 'ephemeral' nature of the internet.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The scope and scale of interest in contemporaneous translation has been inspiring, so with the successful publication of a collection of essays on Mutilple Translation Communities in Contemporary Japan (Routledge: 2015), I will now begin preparation on articles and an extended work for publication with the working title, Contemporaneous translation: the ephemera of protest. This year the research will progress through a presentation ("Contemporaneous translation and Minamata disease as unfinished cultural business") at the IATIS Conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; continued excavation of the Roy Kiyooka Fonds at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC; participation and presentation ("Minamata Disease, ephemera, new media and new forms of dissent") at the workshop and conference on ISEA2015, in Vancouver, which concerns archives, ephemera, and electronic art. In Japan, there will also be two symposia organized and held at ICU to explore the notion of contemporaneous translation in the form of overlapping places, voices, and performance; and forms of retelling and circulation.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Funding for a planned symposium was moved to H27 due to scheduling problems, and will take place instead in the latter half of H27 (2015). In the course of this first year of funding, it became clear that there is widespread interest in the shift in attitudes to the material in relation to the internet and our networks online. In addition, notions of the ephemera of protest and the virtual construction and circulation of stories grounded in the hyperlocal place and body are better understood and will be explored in two symposia this year (see below).
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
The funds carried forward to H27 will be used for honouraria, and the organization and symposia to be held in October and December respectively at International Christian University:
Thursday 1 October 2015 Contemporaneous Translation 1: Place, Poetry, Performance will look at the shifting relation of sites, tongues, and creative media to retell stories.
The second symposium, Contemporaneous Translation 2: Modes of Retelling will be held on Thursday 17 December 2015 and feature three speakers.
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