The importance of the translators and the products of their work for the societies wherein they live and work. Brief historical overview of the role of translators and their translations. The place of translators and translation within the modern globalized digitalized environment. The role of translation in the social integration of minorities in host environments. The role of translation in the context of refugees and immigrants. Translation and the roles of translators in conflict situations. Modern forms of censorship and their influence on the working conditions of translators. The position of translation and translators in the international organizations. Translation as a means of preserving national identity and linguistic diversity. Translation as a means of preserving and promoting national identity.

Upon successful completion of the course, the students will be able to:

• understand the social and political dimensions of both the translators and their work
• understand the importance of translators and translations to the society
• recognize the methods and strategies applied by translators in special political and social conditions
• understand the methods and strategies applied by translators in the working environment of the international media
• understand the methods and strategies applied by translators in the working environment of the international organizations
• understand the methods and strategies applied by translators in conditions of conflict and war
• understand the notion of cultural and national identity as it is reflected in literary and cultural texts

Week 1: Introduction to the concept and content of the Sociology of Translation.

Week 2: Historical overview of the role of translators: translators as creators of alphabets and national languages.

Week 3: Historical overview o the role of translators: translation as a means of preserving and disseminating knowledge and as a creator of national literatures.

Week 4: Globalization and translation: neo-Babelism and the neoliberal vision of a monolingual world society and translation as a means of resisting global, cultural, and linguistic homogenization

Week 5: Translation as an element of intercultural identity in modern multilingual environments through intercultural writing.

Week 6: Translation and conflict: the case of the former Yugoslavia and Iraq.

Week 7: Translation as positive or negative mediation in international news agencies.

Week 8: Translation and open society: micro-cosmopolitanism as a form of local resistance to neoliberal cosmopolitanism and essentialist nationalism.

Week 9: Translation and migration: translation assimilation and translation integration as a means of integrating ethnic-linguistic minorities into their host environments.

Week 10: Translation and identity: the role of translation in intercultural and multicultural societies.

Week 11: Foreignizing and domesticating Translation: The Conflict of the Local with the Global through the translation of literature in the world capitalist centers.

Week 12: Translation ethics: is the translator a neutral mediator or an active mediator?

Week 13: Ideology, censorship, and translation: relationships and interactions.

Angeleli, Claudia V. (ed.). The Sociological Turn in Translation and Interpreting Studies. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Baker, Mona (2006). Translation and Conflict. A Narrative Account. London and New York: Routledge.

Bielsa, Esperanza and Hughes, Christopher W. (eds.) (2009). Globalization, Political Violence and Translation. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

Cronin, Michael (2006). Translation and Identity. London and New York: Routledge.

Cronin, Michael (2007). Μετάφραση και Παγκοσμιοποίηση (πρόλογος-μετάφραση-σχόλια Π. Κελάνδριας). Αθήνα: Δίαυλος.

Cronin, Michael (2013). Translation in the Digital Age. London and New York: Routledge.

Hermans, Theo (ed.) (2006). Translating Others (Volume 1 and 2). London and New York: Routledge.

Hung, Eva (ed.) (2005). Translation and Cultural Change. Studies in history, norms and image-projection. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Salama-Carr, Myriam (2007). Translating ad Interpreting Conflict. Amsterdam-New York: Rodopi.

Tuylenev, Sergey (2014). Translation and Society. London and New York: Routledge.

Tymoczko, Maria (2010). Enlarging Translation, Empowering Translators. London and New York: Routledge.

Wolf, Michaela and Fukari, Alexandra (eds.) (2007). Constructing a Sociology of Translation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

The teaching method is student-centred. The students are asked to study a text related to the content of the course delivered one week before the next lesson and to present and comment it in the following lesson. They are encouraged to express their own views, opinions, or objections through a dialogue among them whereupon the instructor functions to a large extent as coordinator. The material is available through the Open eClass platform or the University library. 

The students are evaluated through written examinations at the end of the semester. They are required to answer two out of three questions and can use all the material delivered throughout the semester.