Articles by Sophie Decroupet
The scholarly debate in translation studies and related fields has extensively addressed the defi... more The scholarly debate in translation studies and related fields has extensively addressed the definition, scope, and limitations of translation. We contend that museum translation, which encompasses both the traditional “translation proper” as well as the non-verbal and multimodal aspects of translation, is central to this debate. Museum translation covers an extensive spectrum of perspectives, which contribute to the expansion of the concept of translation and the field of translation studies. It capitalizes on the intrinsic interdisciplinarity of museum studies and translation studies, fostering a profound exchange of disciplines and serving as an ideal foundation for discussing the boundaries of translation. It has a dynamic nature that can contract or expand to suit the researcher’s perspective and disciplinary concentration. A comprehensive examination of the intricate procedures encompassed by museum translation is, therefore, timely. In this article, we examine and compare different applications of this concept and provide an overview of how various disciplines and research foci have approached this area of study. We aim to contribute to the ongoing development of the concept of museum translation and its position in translation studies, a call further addressed by each author in this special issue titled “Museums as Spaces of Cultural Translation and Transfer.”
Museum Management and Curatorship, 2024
Faced with the environmental crisis, natural history museums have started to redefine their roles... more Faced with the environmental crisis, natural history museums have started to redefine their roles and look for new ways to represent natural changes. In exhibitions, this has led to an evolution conceptualized here as a shift from natural history to environmental memory. The article starts with theoretical reflections from museum and memory studies, and is followed by an analysis anchored in a case study of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. Central is a display where memories about nature's past and present are shared in the form of fictional audio testimonies in four languages. I contend that the transition from history to memory in representations of the environmental crisis is, in fact, a translational problem that manifests itself on multimodal, intralingual, and interlingual levels.
Perspectives, 2022
This article examines the construction and transmission of memory
in the Red Star Line Museum in ... more This article examines the construction and transmission of memory
in the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium. The museum,
which opened in 2013 in the historic buildings of the shipping
company, presents itself as a unique lieu de mémoire, harbouring
the stories of the many Europeans who migrated across the
Atlantic in the early 20th century. We concentrate on a
Translation Studies perspective to chart and interconnect the
various levels of memory-work in this museum. Drawing on
broader definitions of translation as cultural transfer and
mnemonic mediation, and linking these to the narrow concept of
translation ‘proper’, our analysis demonstrates how the museum
functions as a local repository for transnational memories.
Moreover, it shows how the museum becomes a catalyst for the
further travelling of these memories. The focus lies on the
museum’s use of spatiality to translate personal memories of
migration for a contemporary audience. It is the physical
sensation of shared spaces – authentic or reconstructed – and
the palimpsestic movement through those spaces that help
visitors gain a tangible sense of what happened there.
Interlingual translations of gallery texts are vital for the worldwide
circulation of the stories, but occasionally cause shifts in the
spatial–temporal framework.
Papers by Sophie Decroupet
Museum management and curatorship, Apr 2, 2024
Faced with the environmental crisis, natural history museums have started to redefine their roles... more Faced with the environmental crisis, natural history museums have started to redefine their roles and look for new ways to represent natural changes. In exhibitions, this has led to an evolution conceptualized here as a shift from natural history to environmental memory. The article starts with theoretical reflections from museum and memory studies, and is followed by an analysis anchored in a case study of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. Central is a display where memories about nature's past and present are shared in the form of fictional audio testimonies in four languages. I contend that the transition from history to memory in representations of the environmental crisis is, in fact, a translational problem that manifests itself on multimodal, intralingual, and interlingual levels.
Perspectives
This article examines the construction and transmission of memory in the Red Star Line Museum in ... more This article examines the construction and transmission of memory in the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium. The museum, which opened in 2013 in the historic buildings of the shipping company, presents itself as a unique lieu de mémoire, harbouring the stories of the many Europeans who migrated across the Atlantic in the early 20th century. We concentrate on a Translation Studies perspective to chart and interconnect the various levels of memory-work in this museum. Drawing on broader definitions of translation as cultural transfer and mnemonic mediation, and linking these to the narrow concept of translation ‘proper’, our analysis demonstrates how the museum functions as a local repository for transnational memories. Moreover, it shows how the museum becomes a catalyst for the further travelling of these memories. The focus lies on the museum’s use of spatiality to translate personal memories of migration for a contemporary audience. It is the physical sensation of shared spaces – authentic or reconstructed – and the palimpsestic movement through those spaces that help visitors gain a tangible sense of what happened there. Interlingual translations of gallery texts are vital for the worldwide circulation of the stories, but occasionally cause shifts in the spatial–temporal framework.
Uploads
Articles by Sophie Decroupet
in the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium. The museum,
which opened in 2013 in the historic buildings of the shipping
company, presents itself as a unique lieu de mémoire, harbouring
the stories of the many Europeans who migrated across the
Atlantic in the early 20th century. We concentrate on a
Translation Studies perspective to chart and interconnect the
various levels of memory-work in this museum. Drawing on
broader definitions of translation as cultural transfer and
mnemonic mediation, and linking these to the narrow concept of
translation ‘proper’, our analysis demonstrates how the museum
functions as a local repository for transnational memories.
Moreover, it shows how the museum becomes a catalyst for the
further travelling of these memories. The focus lies on the
museum’s use of spatiality to translate personal memories of
migration for a contemporary audience. It is the physical
sensation of shared spaces – authentic or reconstructed – and
the palimpsestic movement through those spaces that help
visitors gain a tangible sense of what happened there.
Interlingual translations of gallery texts are vital for the worldwide
circulation of the stories, but occasionally cause shifts in the
spatial–temporal framework.
Papers by Sophie Decroupet
in the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium. The museum,
which opened in 2013 in the historic buildings of the shipping
company, presents itself as a unique lieu de mémoire, harbouring
the stories of the many Europeans who migrated across the
Atlantic in the early 20th century. We concentrate on a
Translation Studies perspective to chart and interconnect the
various levels of memory-work in this museum. Drawing on
broader definitions of translation as cultural transfer and
mnemonic mediation, and linking these to the narrow concept of
translation ‘proper’, our analysis demonstrates how the museum
functions as a local repository for transnational memories.
Moreover, it shows how the museum becomes a catalyst for the
further travelling of these memories. The focus lies on the
museum’s use of spatiality to translate personal memories of
migration for a contemporary audience. It is the physical
sensation of shared spaces – authentic or reconstructed – and
the palimpsestic movement through those spaces that help
visitors gain a tangible sense of what happened there.
Interlingual translations of gallery texts are vital for the worldwide
circulation of the stories, but occasionally cause shifts in the
spatial–temporal framework.