Conferences are organized on two bases: (1) as a report on the state of the field, and (2) as a speculative instrument to stimulate new ideas, new perspectives. With the first kind of conference, one can expect a focused theme and coherent expositions, but with the latter, the contributions may be more, often less, on theme. This collection of essays, selected from papers presented at the first international conference on “Translation and Conflict”, hosted by the University of Salford in November 2004, is an example of the second kind of conference and, not surprisingly, suffers from a certain diffuseness of focus. The Table of Contents, for example, lists fifteen papers under seven categories, which hardly reflects a critical mass for each category. Indeed, in four categories, one finds only one or two papers listed.