Complexity in translation studies

Kobus Marais
University of the Free State, Bloemfontein
Table of contents

Because of the limitations inherent in human perception, memory and conceptualization, reality will always be more complex than human observation and thinking about it (McCabe 2014: 1). That said, the reductionist paradigm that has dominated Western scholarship over the last five centuries or so claims more than mere limited perceptual and conceptual abilities. It is based on the conviction that, underlying the complexity we observe, a few simple laws or principles account for all of reality or that reducing a problem to component parts allows one to deal with the problem (Morin 2008: 1). Mainly because of its acceptance of and technological success with Newtonian determinist mechanics, it assumes that all of reality is equally reducible to a few laws. In particular, the drive to be able to predict and control reality for human benefit informs the reductionist project.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Agrawal, Sweta, and Marine Carpuat
2019  Controlling Text Complexity in Neural Machine Translation . Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing. Accessed November 12, 2020. arxiv​.org​/pdf​/1911​.00835​.pdf. DOI logo
Bedau, Mark A., and Paul Humphreys
2008 Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science. Cambridge: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Byrne, David, and Callaghan, Gill
2014 Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences: The State of the Art. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cilliers, Paul
1998 Complexity and Postmodernism: Understanding Complex Systems. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Civico, Marco
2019 “The Complexity of Knowledge Sharing in Multilingual Corporations: Evidence from Agent-Based Simulations.” Empirica 46 (6): 767–795. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cronin, Michael
2017 Eco-translation: Translation and Ecology in the Age of the Anthropocene. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deacon, Terrence W.
2013 Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter. New York: WW Norman.Google Scholar
Even-Zohar, Itamar
2006 “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem.” In The Translation Studies Reader. 2nd ed., ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 199–204. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Garcia, Adolfo M.
2019 The Neurocognition of Translation and Interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hermans, Theo
1999 Translation in Systems: Systemic and Descriptive Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Kauffman, Stuart
1995 At Home in the Universe. The Search for the Laws of Self-Organisation and Complexity. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kiraly, Don
2006 “Beyond Social Constructivism: Complexity Theory and Translator Education.” Translation and Interpreting Studies 1 (1): 68–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kothari, Anita, and Sibbald, Shannon L.
2018 “Using Complexity to Simplify Knowledge Translation: Comment on ‘Using Complexity and Network Concepts to Inform Healthcare Knowledge Translation’.” International Journal of Health Policy and Management 7 (6): 563–565. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marais, Kobus
2014 Translation Theory and Development Studies: A Complexity Theory Approach. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019 A (Bio)Semiotic Theory of Translation: The Emergence of Social-Cultural Reality. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marais, Kobus, and Reine Meylaerts
(eds) 2019 Complexity Thinking in Translation Studies: Methodological Considerations. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
McCabe, Vicki
2014 Coming to our Senses: Perceiving Complexity to Avoid Catastrophes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meylaerts, Reine, Maud Gonne, Tessa Lobbes, and Diana Sanz Roig
2017 “Cultural mediators in Cultural History: What do we Learn from Studying Mediators' Complex Transfer Activities in Interwar Belgium.” In Doing Double Dutch: The International Circulation of Literature from the Low Countries, ed. by Elke Brems, Orsolya Réthelyi, and Ton van Kalmthout, 67–91. Leuven: Leuven University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morin, Edgar
2008 On Complexity. Translated by Robin Postel and Sean M. Kelly. Cresskill: Hampton Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, Douglas
2001 Who Translates: Translator Subjectivities Beyond Reason. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar

Further essential reading

Coveney, Peter, and Roger Highfield
1995 Frontiers Of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic World. New York: Fawcett Columbine.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Melanie
2009 Complexity: A Guided Tour. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Mark C.
2001 The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Waldrop, Mitchell M.
1992 Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos. London: Viking.Google Scholar