Education city to host 4th annual translation conference

The Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII) of Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing will host the fourth annual translation conference titled 'Texts in Context: New Cultural Constellations in Translation Studies' from April 14 to 16 next year at the Education City.  The conference aims to create a Gulf-based platform for discussing issues related to translation in the Middle East and North Africa region. It will also highlight the emerging new centers of cultural and economic prominence that were previously marginalized within the constellation of world cultures, the TII said Monday.  Conference participants will be encouraged to explore the historical antecedents, present character and challenges posed by a field expanding beyond its traditional boundaries in a globalized world.  Workshops will be led by experienced professionals and educators, and will offer groups of translators and those interested in pursuing a career in translation an opportunity to understand and experience various aspects of the craft   some in relation to Arabic/English and English/Arabic translation and others from less language-specific perspectives.  The conference will mull questions like: What factors determine the position of a particular language in the hierarchy of translation on the international scene? How can one explain the fact that languages with large number of speakers and rich cultural histories occupy a peripheral position within the international system of translation? What new shifts and transformations can we trace within current translation systems, and in what ways do they promise to expand or modify translation practice and theory?  The conference is currently accepting papers from those interested in attending. The above questions should be answered within the scope of the following topics:-  Medieval and other Arabic translation schools, movements and translators.  New directions in translation studies and translation theory.  Literary translations and agents; including authors and translators.  Media, including print, electronic, online, and social media.  Languages, national boundaries, and global systems.  Nation building projects and the forging of national identities.  Migration flows and migrant populations.  Museums and ethnographic representations.  Cultural diversity and professional practices.  Scholars interested in submitting papers in Arabic or English languages are invited to do so by emailing a single PDF attachment to transconf qf.org.qa by February 7, 2013, said the TII which was established to build capacity in Qatar and the region and to function as a physical and virtual space within which sophisticated translator and interpreter education, high-level training in a range of languages and quality translation and interpreting services.