Author: Manuel Pavón Belizón
Programme: Doctoral Programme on the Information and Knowledge Society
Language: English
Supervisor: Dr Carles Prado Fonts
Faculty / Institute: UOC Doctoral School
Key words: translation, circulation, humanities and social sciences, socio-intellectual dynamics, Wang Hui, contemporary Chinese thought, interventional translation
Abstract:
This thesis analyzes the translation and translocal circulation of Chinese humanities and social sciences (HSS) works in European and North American contexts between 1989 and 2018. It addresses two main questions: What are the main dynamics and mechanisms at work in those processes of translation and circulation? And what are the conditions that allow certain works and authors to achieve translocal recognition and intellectual legitimacy? For that purpose, this research presents a compilation and analysis of HSS works from China translated into English in order to show a set of macro-level dynamics related to geopolitical factors. Secondly, we study micro-level dynamics via a case study on the translation and circulation of the works of the contemporary thinker Wang Hui (b. 1959) in Anglophone and Italophone contexts. It maps out the dynamics among the different agents that take part in the initiatives to translate his work. Through this case study, we observe the importance of the socio-intellectual embeddedness of a translated author in the reception context.