Between Trauma and Desire: Translating the Memory of Migration
- Prof. Loredana Polezzi, Cardiff University
- November 30 (Thursday), 11 am.
- Salón de Actos FFT > con interpretación simultánea
- Organized by: Dpto. FIFA & iDAES
This lecture is funded by the Departamento de Filoloxía Inglesa, Francesa e Alemá and the Interuniversity Doctoral Programme in Advanced English Studies (iDAES) of the University of Vigo and is directly linked to the seminar (curso de formación) “The Representation of Conflicts: An Introduction to Trauma and Memory in Texts”, co-taught by Teresa Caneda and Martín Urdiales. This seminar approaches the representation of traumatic events such as the Irish Famine and the Holocaust which implied forms of enforced mobility and have become associated with cultural memory/ies. The seminar will focus on texts which deal with the representation of scenarios of conflict (dislocation, violent assimilation) and where the relationships among languages and speakers are marked by hierarchies of power.
In recent years a number of scholars have pointed out that memory needs to be understood as a transnational phenomenon (Erll, 2009; De Cesari and Rigney, 2014). In this lecture, Prof. Polezzi will examine the link between a specific kind of transnational memory –the memory of migration– and processes of linguistic as well as cultural translation. Prof. Polezzi will talk about the way in which the memory of migration is passed on and represented across generations through forms of writing and visual representation which are deeply informed by practices of translation. She will concentrate on women writers/visual artists/performers in the context of migration and will discuss how they treat migration and its memory both in relation to trauma and desire.
Loredana Polezzi is Professor in Translation Studies at the School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University. Her main research interests are translation studies, comparative literature, and the history of travel and migration. Her recent work focuses on how geographical and social mobilities are connected to the theories and practices of translation and self-translation. With Rita Wilson, she is co-editor of The Translator, a leading international journal in Translation Studies. She is also a co-investigator in the research project “Transnationalizing Modern Languages”, funded by the AHRC’s Translating Cultures scheme, as well as a founding member of the “Cultural Literacy in Europe” network.