Interdisciplinary workshop of the ‘Translational Anthropology’ project

Offered within the framework of Regina Toepfer and Jennifer Hagedorn’s SPP subproject ‘Translational Anthropology, the workshop will inquire into hidden power structures in the translation cultures of the Early Modern period and seek to expose them with the aid of historical intersectionality research. The aim is to examine the preconditions, criteria, practices, and mechanisms with which minorities and persons subjected to multiple discrimination are made invisible by translation while at the same time the positions of the privileged members of society are strengthened by their standard-setting visibility.

The explicit and implicit valuation systems in play in Early Modern translations allow conclusions about normative conceptions of the target culture, but also about individual experiences of the persons involved. Whereas the chief focus will be on textual testimonies and literary products, comparative studies on other transfer processes, for example in art or architecture, will also be discussed.