PhD Studentship in Corpus-based Translation Studies and History of Knowledge Transfer in the 19/20th Century

at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies,
University of Manchester
http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/ctis/  @ctismanchester
Deadline for applications to School: 22 January 2016
A fully-funded 3-year PhD studentship in the area of Corpus-based Translation Studies and History of Knowledge Transfer in the 19th/20th Century is available from September 2016, under the umbrella of the AHRC-funded project Genealogies of Knowledge: The Evolution and Contestation of Concepts across Time and Space.
* Start date of studentship: 19 September 2016
* Full RCUK equivalent studentship (£18,000), including tuition fees and maintenance grant, paid for 3 years of PhD registration
* Supervisory team: Prof Mona Baker, Prof Peter Pormann, Dr Luis Pérez-González
1. Genealogies of Knowledge
Genealogies of Knowledge: The Evolution and Contestation of Concepts across Time and Space is a 4-year AHRC-funded research project (starting on 31 March 2016) led by Prof Mona Baker, Prof Peter Pormann and Dr Luis Pérez-González (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester).
This project seeks to answer the overall question of how linguistic and cultural translations generate and renegotiate knowledge and values across centuries and cultures. To tackle this general question, the project investigates two sets of interrelated issues:
* the historical evolution and transformation through translation of two constellations of key concepts in political and scientific thought, focusing on seminal moments of change in the reception and reproduction of translated texts and their meanings by subsequent readerships. The project will study the translation of such central concepts in the humanities and sciences from/into Greek, early Latin, medieval Arabic and modern English;
* the ways and means by which civil society actors involved in radical democratic groups and counter-hegemonic globalisation movements contest and redefine the meaning of such cultural concepts today.
For both strands of analysis, the study will build large, diverse electronic corpora of Greek, Latin, Arabic and English; and (2) develop a range of open-source tools for corpus analysis and visualisation that harness the power of the computer to process, compare and visualise patterns in these very large textual repositories.
2. Applicant’s Project
The successful applicant’s project will ideally draw on corpora of 19th/20th century translations from French and German into English of works by key thinkers (e.g. Karl Popper, Jacques Rancière, Immanuel Kant, Max Horkheimer and Michel Foucault). The corpora should be interrogated to address the following research questions:
* How do concepts about the body politic evolve and acquire different meanings and nuances within and across linguacultures over time, and what role does translation play in this process? Specific concepts to be examined include those currently expressed by the following lexical items in English: polis, polity, democracy, civil society, citizenship, nation, state, natural law, human rights, equality.
* How do key concepts that underpin scientific, expert discourse (including medical discourse as a case in point) similarly evolve within and across cultures over time, and how are they mediated in translation? Specific concepts to be examined include those currently expressed by the following lexical items in English: experiment, observation, evidence, proof, episteme, truth, falsehood, aetiology, causation, justification, fact, validity, expertise.
As part of their application, applicants will submit a 1,500-word research proposal (see section 3) outlining how they would approach one or more of the research questions and stating which authors/works would be represented in their proposed corpora. Applicants can contact Prof Mona.Baker@manchester.ac.uk or Dr Luis.Perez-Gonzalez@manchester.ac.uk for further guidance.
3. Application Process
Applicants should submit their applications as part of the NWCDTP Studentship Competition for 2016/17, as there is the possibility of co-funding.
To check eligibility criteria and access the relevant forms, go to:
http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/fees/postgraduate-research-funding/#NWCDTP (section entitled AHRC Doctoral Studentships – North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership NWCDTP).
4. Key Dates
Candidates must have applied for a place on the PhD programme in Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester by Friday 22 January 2016. They should indicate on the application form that they wish to be considered for the Genealogies of Knowledge PhD studentship.
Candidates must submit a NWCDTP Funding Application by 12 February 2016 (5pm). The application should indicate ‘Translation Studies’ as their pathway, and indicate that they are also applying for the Genealogies of Knowledge studentship.
5. Enquiries
Informal enquiries should be directed to Prof Mona.Baker@manchester.ac.uk or Dr Luis.Perez-Gonzalez@manchester.ac.uk (quoting ‘Genealogies PhD Studentship’ as the e-mail subject).