Agnès Whitfield

Agnès Whitfield is a full professor in the Department of English Studies at York University (Toronto, Canada). She is a specialist in Canadian and Quebec literature and a translator, she is interested in the theory and practice of translation, as well as the essential contribution of literary translators to intercultural dialogue. Her recent research focuses on various notions (plurivocality, multiple otherness and creativity) which, by countering the often homogenizing effects of translation, can create and strengthen open and respectful spaces for exchange. She has published over eighty scientific articles and twelve books, including two collections of poetry. A visiting professor at universities in Canada (McGill, Ottawa and Carleton) and abroad (Bologna and Mainz), she is the founding director of the international translation collection "Vita Traductiva", and an associate member of the TRACT research group at the Sorbonne Nouvelle.

The project

Title: The Judiciary and Translation/Interpretation Awareness

"This activity consists of a two-day international workshop on training for judges on language-translation-interpretation awareness. Its overarching goal is to initiate a productive dialogue among judges, legal scholars and Translation Studies specialists about how judicial training in language-translation-interpretation awareness could be enhanced to improve access to justice for litigants who do not speak the majority language of the court. More granularly, through this dialogue, the project will seek to identify: 1) what such training should include from the point of view of Translation Studies scholars; 2) what such training should include from the point of view of legal scholars and judges ; 3) what institutional constraints (such as judicial independence) impact on the delivery of training to judges; and 4) what future steps could be taken."

Hosting institution: Sorbonne Nouvelle

Selective Bibliography

• Poète, où te tiens-tu ? Montréal : Éditions Sémaphore, 2021.
• « The Circulation in English of Voices Theorizing Translation in French: Which Voices, When, and Why (or Why not) ». Palimpsestes 33 (automne 2019), pp. 153-169.
• « Enseigner les nouvelles de Rabindranath Tagore : altérités multiples et
• médiations esthétiques ». In Vidya Vencatesan et Christine Raguet, eds. Altérités multiples en traduction : explorations indiennes. Montréal : Éditions québécoises de l’œuvre, collection Vita Traductiva, 2020, pp. 147-169.
• « Rumo a uma virada sociocultural no Ensino da tradução: uma perspectiva canadense ». Belas Infiéis 2 (2021), pp. 1-15. Translation by Myllena Ribeiro Lacerda and Marcelo Araújo de Sales Aguiar of Agnès Whitfield, « Towards a Socio-Cultural Turn in Translation Teaching: A Canadian Perspective ». Méta 50/4 (2005).
• « Unspoken Assumptions, Deep Holes and Boundless Expectations: The Dialogical Tensions in Teaching Short Stories ». Language and Dialogue (John Benjamins). vol. 12, no. 1 (2022): 110-129. 10.1075/ld.00114.whi