Translation and cosmopolitics. Tensions and deviations in the construction of the common

SESSION 1 | MORE THAN ONE, FEWER THAN MANY

Monday, 14 September

17h–20h (30-minute break at 18h30)

Colégio Almada Negreiros, Room SE1

READINGS

Blaser, M. (2018). “Uma outra cosmopolítica é possível?”. Revista de @ntropologia da UFSCar, 10(2), pp. 14-42. https://doi.org/10.52426/rau.v10i2.243.

Diagne, S. B. (2025). “O atravessador e o tradutor”. In: De língua a língua: A hospitalidade da tradução. WMF Martins Fontes, pp. 33-54.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

What does it mean to translate when there is no pre-existing shared world or common framework of meaning? How can we negotiate between worlds that do not share the same “facts”? Or how can irreconcilable disagreements coexist under the auspices of a single political order?

About the Reading Group

Organisation: Constanza Solórzano, Laila Algaves Nuñez and Mariana Varela Câmara (IFILNOVA).

This study group investigates translation as a device for negotiating boundaries and as a world-making gesture, one that is decisive in the construction and sharing of aesthetic regimes, a multispecies democracy, and perhaps even the earthly surface itself. In each session, texts will be brought together that inspire a double movement: on the one hand, they open the discussion through key concepts related to this theme—such as hospitality, cosmopolitics, and the very definition of facts in scientific practice; on the other hand, they provisionally ground it in concrete situations in which translational practice becomes necessary: a socio-onto-legal conflict over the protection of caribou in Quebec, a fictional tale that stages the writing of an octopus, and the (once again highly relevant) images of the Moon.

Registration is available via this form.

Participation is free of charge, in person, and open to anyone interested in the topics under discussion. It’s not necessary to be a student or to have any affiliation with NOVA FCSH.

Although it’s possible to attend individual sessions, the aim is to bring together a consistent group throughout all three sessions, allowing the discussions to develop with greater continuity and depth over time.

All reading materials will be made available to registered participants via a shared Google Drive folder on 14 August, one month before the first session.

More information available in Portuguese.