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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

Bodies in Translation: Science, Knowledge and Sustainability in Cultural Translation

Alternative title: DEN OVERSATTE KROPPEN: VITENSKAP, KUNNSKAP OG BÆREKRAFT I KULTUROVERSETTELSE

Awarded: NOK 12.0 mill.

This is a cross-disciplinary inquiry of translation as a cultural practice. We often tend to view translation in entirely discursive terms; that is, as the carrying over and rendering of one language into another. In the history and theory of science and cross-cultural inquiry, however, questions concerning the understanding of knowledge from different disciplines, places and times have long been associated with ?translation? and ?cultural translation?. Translation has also recently been institutionalized in natural science, especially in medicine where knowledge translation (KT) refers to research activities bound together by the common goal of ?bridging the gap? between science in laboratories and clinical application. New knowledge about the cultural aspects of KT is exceptionally relevant in situations where medical encounters are often also cultural encounters. In this project, we investigate various cultural and epistemic translation practices where sustainable health and the human body serve as a boundary object between natural and cultural forms of knowledge. We examine case studies relating to the body and the nature-culture distinction in early modern history, cross-cultural questions about the understanding of nature, bodies and spirits in Amerindian cosmologies, indigenous translations of their healing practices into the Western category of ?cultural heritage?, translations of mindfulness and shamanism to the ?West? ? and global, notions of planetary health and the Amazon. By experimenting with different models of and for translation in these cases, we hope to devise new approaches to the problem of commensurability between cultures and epistemic orders.

BiT is a cross-disciplinary inquiry of translation as a cultural practice. We investigate various cultural and epistemic translation practices where the sustainable health and the human body serve as a boundary object between natural and cultural inquiry. By experimenting with different models of and for translation, we hope to devise new approaches to the problem of commensurability between cultures and epistemic orders. We aim to reach this objective by analyzing a sample of early modern and cross-cultural cases designed to explore the historiography and translatability of the nature-culture distinction. Our cases thus revolve around cutting-edge issues in the history of knowledge, cultural history, cross-cultural studies and translations studies – and relate these issues to pressing issues of sustainability in the health sciences. WP 1 therefore examines state of the art issues relating to the body and the nature-culture distinction in early modern history. WP 2 tackles state of the art issues in cross-cultural studies, focusing upon nature, bodies and spirits in Amerindian cosmologies, ‘indigenous’ translations of their healing practices into the Western category of ‘cultural heritage’, and translations of mindfulness and shamanism to the ‘West’, as mind-body medicine. WP3 analyse KT with reference to broader cultural notions of translation in relation to sustainability and health, the Anthropocene and the Amazon.

Publications from Cristin

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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam