CFP: THE CHILD AND THE BOOK - CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: LOST IN TRANSLATION
30 MARCH – 1 APRIL 2007, BOGAZICI UNIVERSITY, ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Papers are invited for the fourth annual The Child and the Book conference to be held at Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, from March 30 - April 1, 2007.
This inter-disciplinary event, inaugurated in 2004 at Roehampton University, attracts delegates from all over the world and provides a unique opportunity for primarily postgraduate students to meet, and present and discuss their current research. The broad theme of the 2007 conference will be “Lost in Translation.” The keynote speaker will be Professor Zohar Shavit from Tel Aviv University.
In an increasingly globalising world, English (as the dominant language of business and the internet) is almost inevitably a carrier of western ideologies and social, religious and cultural mores that do not always sit well in other cultures. Translations do increase the number of literary works available to young people, widening their literary experiences, introducing them to other countries, and, hopefully, promoting a more international perspective, a greater understanding between cultures. Yet most translations are from English, few are into English; there is a decided imbalance in what is translated and for whom. In countries without their own
substantial tradition of children’s literature, where, when making reading choice decisions, parents do not have the same background/experiences on which to draw as parents in the original market, or when translated books are used, for example, in the area of education, this issue can be problematic in terms of intercultural interference. Of concern, too, are
questions such as the choice of texts, the nature and the extent of changes from the original to the target language, and the nature of the gate-keepers (especially publishers with their own commercial interests).
Of course, “translation” can also be thought of in broad terms, not just the literal translations between languages. Adults writing for children “translate” the world and its rules and codes, the re-tellings of traditional/canonical stories “translate” from one period to another, films
(and video games) can be seen as “translations” of books (and vice versa), and books (and other media) “translate” cultures. These acts of mediation are not without their own problems and issues.
In the tradition of this conference and its intention to reflect a broad spectrum of current graduate research, proposals are invited from all disciplines and from inter-disciplinary teams for twenty-minute papers addressing any aspect of “translation” in children's literature. In
addition, the conference offers various subthemes which will enable the final programme to reflect the diversity of current studies in children's literature. Thus, papers may also consider any of the following areas of interest, which may or may not touch upon the main theme:
• Literary theory and children's literature
• Gender studies – masculinist, feminist or queer theory approaches
• The politics of children’s literature
• Ideology and/or reader response
• The voice of the child
• Popular culture and children’s literature
• Education and children’s literature
• Publishing and children's literature
• New voices: new trends
The deadline for receipt of proposals is October 15, 2006.
More information can be found on the conference website:
www.cb2007.boun.edu.tr
