Conference, Lancaster, 21-22 May; 'Africa: Cultural Translations'

For those of you in the north of England, a fascinating-looking conference on issues of translation and cultural translation (by no means the same thing!) called 'Africa: Cultural Translations', to be held at Lancaster University on 21-22 May 2010. It's organised by the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research. For Italianists, some very interesting short texts with their Italian translations here.

Africa: Cultural Translations Conference

Organised by Lancaster University African Studies Group
In association with the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research

Friday 21 May 2010

10.00-10.30 Registration and Welcome

10.30-12.00 Panel 1: Transcultural Encounters
Chair: Alison Lloyd-Williams

Lorraine Moore (Manchester University, UK) "I want to tell you something that no one else can know: Exploring the implications of hearing and seeing too much whilst conducting fieldwork'

Saskia Vermeylen (Lancaster University, UK) 'African Stories in the Court Room'

Femi Adedina (Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia) 'Walking through Translation's Landmines: Surviving through a Novel's Footnoting'

12.00-12.45 Presentation: Graham Mort and Kate Horsley (Lancaster University, UK), African Writers Projects

12.45-1.30 Lunch

1.30-3.00 Panel 2: Performance and Visual Representation
Chair: Saskia Vermeylen

Jane Plastow (University of Leeds, UK) and Alison Lloyd Williams (Lancaster University, UK) 'Using Theatre to discuss Ugandan women's priorities across generations and educational divides'

Marion Arnold (Loughborough University, UK) 'Mind the Gap: Translation in a Fractured African Society'

Eitan Bar-Yosef (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel) 'Zionist Blackface: Performing "Africa" in the Israeli Theatre of the 1950s'

3.00-3.30 Coffee

3.30-5.00 Panel 3: Literary Translations
Chair: Amy Rushton

Théophile Munyangeyo (Leeds Metropolitan University, UK) 'The Symbolism of Flowers through the Rhetoric of Disenchantment'

Marta Cariello (Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy) 'Translating the North African Coast: Laila Lalami's Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits'

Brendon Nicholls (University of Leeds, UK) 'Reading Ethically: Gender and Ngugi's Texts in Translation'

5.00-6.00 Goretti Kyomuhendo Reading and Discussion
Chair: Graham Mort

6.30 Conference Dinner, Lancaster House Hotel


Saturday 22 May 2010

9.30-11.00 Panel 4: Linguistic and Cultural Translations
Chair: Charlotte Baker

Felix Awung (National University of Lesotho, South Africa) 'Translating African Culture: Ferdinand Oyono's Une Vie de Boy in English'

Amy Rushton (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK) 'Translating real violence into fictional worlds: issues confronting the writer of contemporary African fiction'

Ursula Troche (London School of Economics, UK) 'Cultural Translation as Methodology of Understanding'

11.00-11.30 Coffee

11.30-1.00 Panel 5: Language and Cultural Transmission
Chair: Jane Sunderland

Valentine Njende Ubanako (University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon) 'Humour Translation in Cameroon: Stakes in National Integration and Social Cohesion. A Cultural Challenge?'

Mamour Turuk and Mei Lin (Newcastle University, UK) 'Improving ESL Thinking and Argumentative Writing Skills: A Sudanese Perspective'

Valentina Alice Mutti (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy) 'French, Malgasy or rice with vegetables? Reflections on languages, schooling and cultural transmission in Highland Madagascar'

Grace Bota (Lancaster University, UK) 'What gets lost in translation: methodological issues on translating from Akan to English'

1.00-2.00 Lunch

2.00-3.30 Panel 6: The Local and the Global
Chair: Brendon Nicholls

Holger Droessler (Harvard University, USA) 'From A-Town to ATL: The Politics of Translation in Contemporary Global Hip Hop Cultures'

Shola Adenekan (University of Birmingham, UK) and Helen Cousins (Newman University College, Birmingham, UK) 'Class online: Digital Representations of African middle-class identity'

Michelle Kelly (University of York, UK) 'Playing it by the book'?: Law and Cultural Translation in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace

3.30-4.00 Round Table

4.00 Conference close

If you wish to register, please contact Charlotte Baker for further details: c.baker at lancaster.ac.uk