The Trans/National Study of Culture

This volume introduces key concepts for a trans/national expansion in the study of culture. Using translation as an analytical category, it explores what is translatable and untranslatable between nation-specific approaches such as British/American cultural studies, German Kulturwissenschaften and other traditions in studying culture. The range of articles included in the book covers both theoretical reflections and specific case studies that analyze the tensions and compatibilities amongst contemporary perspectives on the study of culture. By testing various key concepts translation, cultural transfer, travelling concepts this volume reflects on an essential vocabulary and common points of reference for scholars seeking new frameworks and methodologies for the foundation of a trans/national study of culture that is commensurate with the entangled nature of our world society.

Auteur

Doris Bachmann-Medick, International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, Germany.

Résumé

"The Trans/national Study of Culture: A Translational Perspective is, through its own structure and approach, the best proof that the project proposed in the title can be successful in research. By its integrative power, it is likely to contribute to the setting up of a rewardingly inclusive space of views, interests and theories. Reuniting researchers from a variety of fields - cultural and literary studies, translation studies, sociology, philosophy, politics, history, art criticism, media and communication studies - the volume serves as a place of encounter whose most appealing quality is polyphony. It manages to make independent, sometimes dissonant, voices fuse into a concerted effort to address issues of utmost concern for both the academic and non-academic world. [...] Reuniting contributors from a variety of fields, the volume constitutes itself as a kaleidoscopic image of culture, with "translation" serving as a guiding concept and principle. By the approaches adopted, the volume invites a clear change of mindset in academia. The meaning of culture exists across rather than within disciplines and must therefore be decoded trans/nationally through a translational perspective."

Anca Dobrinescu, in: Word and Text. A Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics. Vol IV. 2 (December 2014), pp. 133-136.