Glendon hosts colloquium on Translation and Social Activism

Sherry Simon, Canada Research Chair in Translation and Cultural History at York’s Glendon College, in collaboration with the research group, Le Soi et l’Autre will host a colloquium titled “Translation and Social Activism” at Glendon on Thursday and Friday.


Robert BarskyKeynote speakers at the event include Robert Barsky (left), professor of literature and language theory at Vanderbilt University, Tenn., and author of Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent, and two guests from India: Vanamala Viswanatha of the University of Bangalore, and Diptiranjan Pattanaik of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar in Orissa.


Barsky is a leading researcher on issues of translation in extreme situations, particularly in relation to migration and refugees. Barsky’s talk, titled “Translating into Fifteen Years of Prison, or, When not to say ‘You may, Officer’”, will be given at 10am Thursday.


The two-day program features four sessions of papers presented by authorities from Canada, the US and India and takes place in Glendon Manor.


Conference speakers schedule


Thursday, 2pm



  • Vanamala Viswanatha, University of Bangalore, will speak on translating Dalit.
  • Catherine Leclerc, McGill University, will give a talk titled “Can Chiac be French, Can it be English? Strategies for translating an urban Acadie”.

Friday, 9:30am



  • Diptiranjan Pattanaik, of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, will discuss aspects of translation in a talk titled, “Missionary position: The Irony of Translational Activism in Colonial Orissa”.
  • Salah Basalamah, University of Ottawa, « La traduction citoyenne n’est pas une métaphore ».
  • Sathya Rao, « Le retour du pigeon voyageur: traduire dans le ‘Middle Passage’ ».
  • Julie McDonough, University of Ottawa: “The Issue of Translation in Relation to the 1995 Quebec Referendum”.
  • Mustapha Ettobi, McGill University, « L’usage du symbolique dans la lutte sociale : réflexion sur deux cas de la traduction littéraire arabe ».
  • Patrick Ramamonjisoa, graduate student, York University: « L’étranger prisonnier : écueils d’une traduction passive en situation (post-)coloniale ».

Friday, 11am



  • Luise von Flotow, University of Ottawa: “Interventionist Film Translation: Chicago in French”.
  • Daniel Simeoni, York University, TBD 
  • Christopher Lankosh, University of Connecticut: “On the ‘Sud-Altern’ question: Gramsci, translation, and Social Change”. 

Friday, 2pm



  • Effrossyni Fragkou, University of Ottawa: “Translation and the Greek voice in a pluralistic, multicultural and multilingual Canadian society”
  • Aurelia Kliemkiewicz, University of Montreal: « La communautaire : un modèle de communication trialogique ».
  • Andrew Clifford, York University: “Healthcare Interpreting and Informed Consent: What is the Role of the Interpreter in Treatment Decision Making?”

For more information, contact  the Glendon School of Translation at 416-487-6742, or by e-mail to translation@glendon.yorku.ca.