Chair: Prof. Poonam Kumria

Coordinator: Dr. Vinita Sinha & Prof. Rekha Sethi

The origin of the Translation and Translation Studies Centre offers a glimpse into the importance of the world of texts and languages. Especially in the context of NEP 2020, this story is foundational in order to grasp how a passing interest can ‘translate’ into the creation of an academic and recreational resource that can generate employment.

More than a decade ago, then in the second year of her tenure, was faced with an unprecedented crisis. Large bundles of Bengali and Punjabi books had been discarded post the shutting down of the departments. As a Translation Studies scholar herself, directed that the books be catalogued and shelved. Further, as part of the projects submitted for consideration for the Fulbright Nehru International Award Fellowship, the principal envisioned the Translation and Translation Studies Centre, the first of its kind in University of Delhi.

The inaugural of the TTSC in 2015 witnessed collaboration with scholars of international fame, like Siri Nergaard, Edwin Gentzler, Judy Wakabayashi, among others, in the form of a 3-day International Confest. The first issue of CODE (named by Prof Saraf) was also released on this occasion.

Founded in 2015, the Translation and Translation Studies Centre was conceived to engage and aid scholarship and praxis in the emerging fields of Translation and Translation Studies. The Centre strives to provide the necessary platform for scholars and students to hone their skills in the field with workshops, talks, lectures, courses, and seminars throughout the year. It has hosted erudite scholars like Mr Ajmal Kamal, Prof Harish Trivedi, Dr Indra Nath Choudhari, and Dr Sukrita Paul Kumar, among others, whose pedagogic expertise in the field has been beneficial for students, researchers and faculty alike.

The Centre has organized two international conferences, the first being the inaugural 3 day conference on the theme of ‘Plurilingualism and Orality in Translation’ as well as an International Hindi Conference in collaboration with New York University and Columbia University in 2020. The latter saw the release of Selected Short Stories, an anthology of short stories translated from Hindi to English by faculty and students of the college and edited by Prof Babli Moitra Saraf as a result of a collaborative endeavour between the Centre and Sahitya Akademi. It recently organized an international online lecture series on ‘Women’s Writings in India: Issues and Perspectives’ in collaboration with South Asian Studies Program, Princeton University.

The Centre also publishes an annual student Journal of Translation, CODE. It showcases and invites translations by students from and in various Indian and other languages under overarching themes. It is in the eighth year of printing. The most recent issue, titled ‘Prism Break’, dealt with the theme of Multimodality, that is, translation from and to various media.

The history of the TTSC becomes an important story as the NEP 2020 envisages a new perspective towards Indian languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, with a tangible move towards including these in the curricula of Indian Universities. Thus, the Centre is a significant resource and platform for young scholars and researchers to study and understand this field both in its formal, theoretical impetus and its many practical possibilities. It is also viewed as an area with scope for potential employability apart from deploying language skills for various kinds of academic research.

ttsc@ip.du.ac.in

CODE- Student Journal of Translation, 2015