220009 Memory in Translation (S+K) (WiSe 2023/2024)

The aim of this seminar is to explore entanglements of language and memory in multilingual environments. Historical and cultural experience is not divided along linguistic lines, whereas records of its memory are. By focusing on a range of different environments including cities, families, legal institutions and cultural production, we want to understand how memory is constructed and deconstructed via translation. Geographically, we will move between Europe, North America and the Middle East. The course consists of a series of seminars with invited scholars who work at the intersection of history, memory studies and translation studies: Peter Davies (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), Hannah Pollin-Galay (Tel Aviv University, Israel), Sherry Simon (Concordia University in Montreal, Canada) and Yasemin Yildiz (University of California, Los Angeles, USA).
This exploratory blended course will be co-taught in English by Mischa Gabowitsch (University of Vienna), Magda Heydel (Jagiellonian University, Cracow), Kornelia Kończal (Bielefeld University) and Roma Sendyka (Jagiellonian University, Cracow) for students in BIelefeld, Cracow, and the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.
Students interested in attending this course are expected to be curious about interdisciplinary multilingual historical, cultural or social research, memory studies and/or translation studies, willing to gain unique insights into cutting-edge research and have good English skills.

Learning Outcomes
gaining confidence in critical reading and chairing discussions
creating compelling, original arguments
asking questions that integrate theoretical perspectives and research findings
identifying the main approaches to the study of (collective) memory in multilingual settings

Course Requirements
Enrolled students are required to regularly attend classes, to participate in the class discussions, which are based on the readings for that particular session, and to be co-responsible for chairing one of the debates. Students missing a class are requested to notify the instructors via email before the class.

Schedule

Monday, 2-6 p.m. (CET)
1st session: 6 November: introduction
2nd session: 13 November. Guest: Sherry Simon (Concordia University in Montreal, Canada)
3rd session: 20 November. Guest: Peter Davies (University of Edinburgh, Scotland)
4th session: 27 November. Guest: Hannah Polin-Galay (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
5th session: 4 December. Guest: Yasemin Yildiz (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
6th session: 11 December: concluding discussion
7th session: 18 December: reading week, consultations

Bibliography

Selected chapters from:
Peter Davies: Witness Between Languages: The Translation of Holocaust Testimonies in Context, Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2018.
Hannah Pollin-Galay: Ecologies of Witnessing: Language, Place, and Holocaust Testimony, New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2018.
Sherry Simon: Cities in Translation. Intersections of Language and Memory. London: Routledge 2012.
Yasemin Yildiz: Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition, New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.