InContext - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2021

This paper summarizes the results of a Focus Group Discussion held in September 2021 to celebrate the inauguration of the international journal INContext: Studies in Translation and Interculturalism. Organized under the title “Changes in Korea’s Outbound Literary Translation: Who, How, and Why?”, the event was a response to the growing significance of and interest in Korea’s literary works worldwide, and marks the first time to employ the format of a focus group discussion in Translation Studies (TS) research in Korea. In a single-moderator event, seven discussants participated as representatives of stakeholders of translation: translator, journal editor, literary grantor institution, and literary agent. Following three brief presentations, the participants shared their expertise and experiences as prompted by the moderator on nine specific issues.

Section 2 outlines historical developments in Korea’s outbound literary translation practices, and the structure of the Focus Group Discussion. Section 3 discusses the theoretical background of the organization of the event and proposes a revised sociological model of translation adapted from Bourdieu’s field theory of cultural production. A summary of the three brief presentations and the subsequent discussion of the nine issues ensues in Section 4, and the conclusion in Section 5 includes suggestions for future research directions.

Significant findings include: (1) Although distinctively visible shifts are under way from the traditional, grant-centric system to a more market-driven one, the continued preference for keeping grant-funded translation projects in place reflects the still peripheral position and lack of economic ‘capital’ of translated literature in the literary system of Korea. (2) In the initial dissemination of Korean literature overseas, the use of the umbrella term ‘K-LITERATURE’ can be deemed useful, but authors need to compete individually based on their respective uniqueness and strengths while showing thematic universality. (3) Being a native speaker of the target language (TL), an alleged requirement of a competent translator much-touted in TS in Korea, did not draw the consensus of all participants. Several participants were of the opinion that a translator’s passion for literary works and the author under translation was a more critical factor in motivating her to complete literary translations.

Personal socio-academic contributions have been particularly influential in the emergence and early development of TIS (Translation and Interpreting Studies). This is shown through the analysis of three case studies, the Leuven-CETRA-EST lineage, the ESIT-Interpretive Theory paradigm and the birth of the Japan Association for Interpreting (and Translation) Studies. Besides these particularly spectacular and unusual cases in which personal socio-academic contributions played a major role, individual researchers can help break the isolation of small branch-specific TIS communities by organizing face-to-face and online meetings and interaction, and help ensure that the TIS population is renewed through a supportive and inspiring attitude that would give graduating students motivation to engage in research. There is no guarantee that TIS will continue to exist as a disciplinary entity, but what it has gained through its disciplinary existence so far could be useful for future investigations into translation and interpreting.

If the intercultural were ever neatly opposed to the national as a frame for translational action and thought, then it would seem to be losing. Nationalist frames have gained new-found energy in various forms: translation is seen a weapon because nation-states support and manipulate it (Sapiro), the ethical aim of translation is to advance one’s national interests and priorities (Ren and Gao), and each country’s “translation capacity” can be quantified and ranked on a league table of competing nations (BFSU). Translators thus become foot-soldiers in battles to gain prestige on the world stage. Such manifestations of nationalism appear to run counter to the causes of intercultural positions and the ethics of cooperative communication between unequal parties. The need for translation nevertheless now lies more urgently in the culturally and linguistically diverse communities within and across national borders, where successful social inclusion is inseparable from the use of translation not as a weapon, but as a means of cooperation.

This article discusses the concept of informed consent in interpreting studies. Informed consent implies that a person must be given enough information to be able to consent to participate voluntarily in a research project. The article first gives an overview and background of the origins of informed consent, and its place in ethical research. The article then points to different areas where informed consent in interpreting studies may be delicate, and what to think about in order to obtain truly informed consent; examples are given from different research studies. The article also discusses the research participants’ right to their data and what happens when informed consent is revoked. I argue in the article that research students should be taught and trained in truly informed consent, and that the informed consent process should be piloted before the initiation of a study.

In recent years universities in the UK have been investigating the extent to which they might have benefitted from the Atlantic slave trade between the 17th and the early 19th centuries. Of course, it emerges that those benefits have long been contested and it is therefore also relevant to investigate the anti-slavery views and actions of some of those involved. This paper focuses on the main founder of the first residential institution of higher education for women in Britain, Emily Davies, and thus opens up a broader inquiry into the theme of women and the anti-slavery movement in 19th century Britain. The anti-slavery movement was the first major campaign in which British women became involved, beginning as early as the late 18th century and reaching peaks in the 1830s and 1860s. So, the women who formed the first generation of British feminists in the middle of the 19th century were deeply shaped by what they had seen the women of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations doing in campaigning for abolition: first of the British slave trade, next of chattel slavery on British territories and then of slavery in the United States. For all these age groups it became common to compare the position of middle-class women, particularly those who were married, with the position of black slaves. As a result, the American Civil War had a galvanizing impact on British women activists. The Ladies’ London Emancipation Society, set up in 1863 to propagandize for the Northern case against chattel slavery, became a central focal point for a network which went on to mount important domestic campaigns to improve their own situation in Britain: including the first movement for the extension of the vote to women and the establishment of the first residential college of higher education for women. In this way, the anti-slavery movement was not just one issue among many that early women activists were concerned about: it was the central issue which shaped the nature and the timing of the emergence of the feminist movement in British public life.

Most foreign observers are struck by the highly palpable nature of Korean nationalist sentiment, especially during times of friction with Japan or during major international sporting events such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup. However, if these observers spend any significant time in Korea, they often become aware that South Korean society is a highly fractious landscape characterized by conflicting ideologies, regional antagonisms, segregation by class, and a number of other societal fault lines. The natural question is what role, if any, this very visible nationalism plays in uniting South Korean society in the absence of any external stimulus and, if it does not, what the reason is. This essay argues that constructing Korean nationalism based largely on a common blood lineage has rendered it ineffectual in ameliorating intra-Korean conflict. In fact, Kang Jung In and Jung Seung Hyun have proposed the concept of the “overdetermination of other theories by nationalism.” This is the idea that ethnic nationalism, by virtue of its near religious status, is used to bestow authenticity, genuineness, or authority on disparate ideologies. The radical left and right attack each other from the position of being the bastion of “real” or “ true” Korean-ness representing the minjok (ethnic nation). This is also the method used by the governments of both Koreas to demonstrate their legitimacy as the rightful representative of the Korean people. This essay, after discussing the process of the formation of Korean nationalism, first problematizes the sacred and tribal characteristics of modern Korean ethnic nationalisms and posits that the unique process of its formation has resulted in a doctrinaire-like ideology that actually contributes to division, then it poses questions as to nationalism’s current function in society.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic deeply impacted the economies and societies of Southeast Asia, Malaysia had achieved many of the goals formulated in the so-called “Vision 2020” during the era of Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (1981–2003). As this long-term development program emphasized strongly on knowledge society (k-society), knowledge economy (k-economy) and Information and Computer Technology (ICT), one important legacy of this era was the establishment of numerous excellent academic programs, including in technological disciplines. The post-Mahathir administrations since the early 2000s built on this asset and successfully transformed the country’s Higher Education sector further, so that it attracted hundreds of thousands of international students from the early 2000s until the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis in early 2020. This paper examines the linguistic and cultural implications of Malaysia’s emerging role of as hub of both international Higher Education and Industry 4.0.