A new undergraduate minor, Translation for Global Literacy, has been approved by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the University of Iowa. Students may declare the minor, which will be administered by the Division of World Languages, Literatures & Cultures, beginning in fall 2015.
The minor encourages undergraduate students to explore translation both as a practical application and as a tool for global literacy. The minor might especially appeal to international students who are fluent in multiple languages as well as to students with a primary major in the languages, international studies, and related areas.
One of the most distinctive characteristics of the current era of globalization is the extensive and rapid exchange of knowledge and information. The development of the so-called digital highway makes it possible for any piece of knowledge to travel virtually anywhere in the world. It is arguable that even the line between oral vs literate cultures has gotten blurred due to the remarkable expansion of the digital highway. Today, more communities across the globe have become not just aware of but also dependent on each other. Co-existence defines the relationships of not just friendly partners but often even the communities in conflict.
To brave this vast geography of co-existence requires a special reserve of knowledge and skills, i.e. global literacy. Central to this new literacy is an understanding of translation as both a practice and a mode of inquiry. Today, literally every form of global exchange--from material goods and natural resources to knowledge, values, ideologies, and cultures--depends on translation across languages. Aided by the unprecedented range of human migration, globalization has effected rich syntheses between and among cultures, languages and sensibilities. Borders between countries have become tenuous, as we speak of transnational, multi-cultural, multi-lingual realities. Scholars like Michael Cronin argue that, in this context, translation also becomes the new epistemology—how we know the others, ourselves, and the dynamic diversity that surrounds and shapes us.
The undergraduate minor in Translation for Global Literacy fosters the integration of “translation” in the undergraduate curriculum both as practice and as a method of inquiry into the dynamics of the global society. Highly integrative, Translation for Global Literacy is academic training at the intersection of world languages, creative writing, translation studies, as well as disciplinary programs. Besides its appeal as a core competency, the Translation for Global Literacy minor can be integrated into virtually all the programs in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and fine and performing arts since they often rely on translation and translated re/sources when they are engaged in inter-cultural inquiry, creative expression and exchange.
The purpose of the minor is to introduce undergraduate students to translation as a field and provide some basic coursework and practice in translation from a world language to English. It aims to encourage students to explore both the topic and the practice of translation as a crucial dimension of global literacy. Students interested in careers in translation are encouraged to combine the minor with a major in a world language, to complete a service learning project or internship in translation [arranged through the Pomerantz Career Center], and, ultimately, to consider graduate study in translation.