Agenda

The Translator’s Profession - 4th edition - Part III

Traditions and practice of collective translation, with a focus on the Chinese-language context

Lecture by Monika Gänssbauer, Stockholm University

Monika Gänssbauer is Associate Professor of Chinese Studies (docent) at the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies (Stockholm University). She studied Chinese literature and political science in Erlangen, Bochum and Beijing. From 1990-1992 she was given a scholarship by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) to pursue her studies at Renmin University, Beijing. From 1994-1996 she did her PhD in Chinese Studies at Bochum University with a focus on language and literature. From 1996-2009 she was head of the China Study Project in Hamburg and lecturer at the Universities of Hamburg and Freiburg i.Br. In the academic year 2008-2009 she was invited as a visiting professor to the Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Freiburg i.Br. In 2008 she earned her post-doctoral degree (Habilitation) in Chinese Studies at the University of Erlangen. From 2009-2015 she served as Deputy Chair of Chinese Studies at the University of Erlangen. From 2015-2016 she had a scholarship at the International Consortium on Research in the Humanities (IKGF), University of Erlangen. In 2016 she was appointed Associate Professor (apl. Professor) for Chinese Studies at the University of Erlangen. During the years 2014-2017 she was Honorary Professor of Translation Studies at the Open University of Hong Kong. From 2015 on she has been serving as a member of the "LaboraTorio sulla Traduzione delle Lingue Orientali", a research group on translation at the Universita Ca'Foscari, Venice. She is co-editor of the scholarly book series "edition cathay", project publishing house, Bochum-Freiburg. 

Research
One of Gänssbauer's research areas is translation in theory and practice. Some scholars today even speak of a ‘translational turn’ in the humanities. As a researcher and translator she has been mainly concerned with modern Sinophone literature but she has also translated a collection of poems by a scholar from the Song dynasty. Together with her students she translated and edited two anthologies of essays written by contemporary Sinophone authors in 2012 and 2013 and one collection of short stories from Hong Kong together with a colleague from Hong Kong in 2017. She also takes particular interest in the cultural and political relations between China and Europe. Chinese religious traditions make up another field of interest of her academic activities. She has worked on the topics of Confucianism and popular belief in China. In 2015 she published a monograph titled “Popular Belief in Contemporary China. A Discourse Analysis”.

Organised in collaboration with Federica Passi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Nicoletta Pesaro, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice