Translation, Circulation and the Semi-Periphery

By researching translation flows, the cosmopolitanising and vernacularising dynamics of translation, translation as consecration, and gender as a mediating category in the circulation of literature, sub-group 4 aims at studying cosmopolitan and vernacular intersections at both micro and macro levels of analysis. What unites the projects is the notion of the “semi-periphery”, which is often mentioned in world-systemic studies but hasn’t been investigated in its own right. Hence, the sub-projects look at the agency of individual mediators and translators as well as systemic translation patterns in dialogue with the sociology of translation, theorisations of literary markets, gender studies and branches of postcolonial studies. Several projects include Sweden and Scandinavia in their purview, thus contributing to the regional grounding of the research programme. Other foci include East Africa and the Portuguese-speaking world.