Argentina in the international geography of social and human sciences, 1990-2014: A comparative analysis of the local translation and publishing of French, English, American and German authors

ALEJANDRO DUJOVNE

Congreso; Social sciences and humanities in the changing North-South relations; 2015

Proyecto Interco-SSH - International cooperation in the social sciences and humanities: comparative historical perspectives and future possibilities

The consolidation of English as the new lingua franca of scientific exchanges, and closely related to this, the growing global dominance of American academia, have become a frequent topic of debate in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). This undeniable advance, is not, however, linear or uniform. As suggested by diverse studies, the differential power of languages and nation states in the sphere of culture, are constituted and expressed in specific modes in particular disciplines, spaces and temporalities. Thus, on several occasions we have not only demonstrated the persistence of French in the translation and publication of SSH in Argentina, but also suggested, through an initial comparative work, its longstanding primacy over English. In this presentation, we want to go a step further by expanding our research in two directions: On the one hand, to continue the comparative analysis of the figures of translations of French, American and English authors, and the study of the similarities and differences of the logics and social networks that organize and enable this circulation. On the other, we intend to survey and analyze the translation German SSH authors during the same period (1990-2014), as it will allow us to raise new questions and hypotheses to understand the changes in the logics of translation, as well as the specific weights of each language and national origin from a relational point of view.