Recharting Territories

Book excerpt: Since the inception of Translation Studies in the 1970s, its researchers have held regular metareflections. Largely based on the assessment of translation and interpreting as two distinct but related modes of language mediation, each with its own research culture, these intradisciplinary debates have sought to take stock of the state of research within an ever-expanding discipline in search of (institutional) identity and autonomy. Recharting Territories proposes a more widespread and systematic intradisciplinary approach to researching translational phenomena, one which can be applied at various analytical levels – theoretical, conceptual, methodological, pragmatic – and emphasize both similarities and differences between subdisciplines. Such an approach, rather than consolidating a territorial attitude on the part of scholars, aims to raise awareness of the ever-shifting terrain on which Translation Studies stands.