Translation is a buzzword in our increasingly hybrid, diasporic, border-crossing societies, and at the same time a highly ambiguous term, since it simultaneously represents the operation by which national, historical, and linguistic differences are bridged, and the pre-emptive process through which those very differences originate. Studio 14 introduces the notion of translation as a social practice that is different from the simple process of transfer, relay, and equivalency; as an alternative to the act that encompasses diverse populations in the national homogenization of languages and cultures. We explore the discourse of “foreigner to foreigner” where language is “forever in translation,” rooted in material practices of cooperation, organization, and conflict, starting from the experience of initiatives of solidarity with refugees in Athens, a heterogeneous language community enlivened by migrants from a number of countries across Africa and the Middle East. At the same time, we examine the construction of a homogenous official national language based on the experience of Slavic Macedonians in mid-war Greece. A research initiative to highlight the ambiguous meaning of “West” and the new shape of political concepts such as Europe, Greece, national language, and identity in the era of capitalist globalization, the “refugee crisis,” and the rise of a new nationalism.
9:30 pm, Screening
Roee Rosen, The Confessions of Roee Rosen, 2008, 56 Min.
