About the centre
The Centre for Comparative Literature and Translation aims to be a world-leading interdisciplinary hub for research into the interrelated movement of texts, languages, people, and objects across cultures and borders. While not the first institution to bring Comparative Literature and Translation Studies together, Glasgow is unique in its focus on the systemicand mutually enriching interaction between the two disciplines, informed by emerging developments in critical theory, and within a truly multilingual environment.
Mission Statement
In line with UofG’s mission as a ‘world-changing’ university, the Centre will be a space in which researchers can investigate phenomena and address challenges that are by their nature interlingual and intercultural.
Our aims
The core aims of the Centre are:
- to pursue world-leading interdisciplinary research to advance and consolidate Glasgow’s pre-eminence in Comparative Literature and Translation Studies through research support, competitive funding bids, attracting exceptional researchers to our Centre and supporting the internationalisation agenda.
- to educate and support the career development of new generations of scholars through our teaching and PGR provision in terms of respect for cultural diversity and global citizenship;
- engage with external stakeholders and non-academic audiences, capitalising on opportunities offered by the Advanced Research Centre.
The constitution of the Centre will allow us to build capacity to support larger scale collaborative funding bids. By giving greater visibility to UofG’s distinctive profile in the field, the Centre will enhance our ability to attract world-leading talent, including PGRs, externally-funded postdocs, and visiting scholars, building on the recent Leverhulme Visiting Professorship (Dominguez). At the same time it will provide a stronger sense of community and identity among affiliated staff and PGRs
SMLC is unusual in offering taught Masters programmes in both Comparative Literature (MLitt) and Translation Studies (MSc) and is home to a growing number of PhD students in these areas. It has hosted a very successful annual PG conference in Comparative Literature and Translation for the last 10 years.
External engagement
Our mission to combine Comparative Literature and Translation in collaboration with non-academic partners means that we will be well-placed to inform and influence external stakeholders, nationally and internationally, in publishing, translation practice, theatre, NGOs, museums and other areas of the cultural industries, as well as literary archives, including digital. At the same time, and conversely, we recognise and value the extent to which these external collaborators enhance our research. The Centre aims to become a catalyst for emerging impact activity in Modern Languages. Selected areas of intended impact in which we will invest our efforts are:
Preserving endangered cultural heritage
- Digitising Haitian literary archives (Douglas, GCRF, Leverhulme Fellowship)
- Research funded via GCRF (e.g. Douglas, Forcer), and develop links with colleagues in Malawi via MaGNetic (The Malawi-Glasgow Network for Interdisciplinary Collaboration) (Syrotinski).
Bringing a cross-cultural perspective to CoAH Impact Catalyst initiatives
- Building on work by Zinnari in the area of mental health and the arts for which the SMLC has provided seed funding.
- Building on research on translation and censorship in Franco’s Spain, by cultivating links with media, NGOs, library professionals (Cornella-Detrell)
- Work with actors and theatre practitioners nationally and internationally on questions of theatre translation (De Francisci, IAA bid in progress)
- Translation between UK and China/South Korea in area of digital media and public impact of translation practises (Evans, ESRC)
Work with schools
- Developing cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary resources for schools on the model of ‘Mask across anatomy, anthropology, theatre and the visual arts: an interdisciplinary unit’ (Segnini, IAA award)