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Translation: Science, Fiction, and Power
Last Updated: 2026-06-03 00:07:38
Abstract
This course teaches some fundamentals of the philosophy of translation, and applies them to translation in scientific practices and science-fiction imaginaries. Special attention is paid to how power relations affect translation processes and technologies, including LLMs. Theoretical study is complemented with a semester-long analysis of translation and power in a book of feminist science fiction.
Objective
Students will learn to analyse shifting meanings of various symbolic practices, from natural language to mathematics, while mindful of contextual power relations. Drawing on (post)structuralist approaches and techniques of critical reading, students will be able to examine pressures under which human or machine actors labour when translating and interpreting translated texts and scientific ideas.
Content
At base, translation is the process of working with a source text to produce a new text, often in a different, ‘foreign’ language or system of signs, so that the new text preserves sufficiently much of the original according to contextually relevant criteria. The ‘relevant criteria’ are embroiled with questions of political interest, cultural integrity, and, in science-fiction, with issues of first contact. Generally speaking, scientific knowledge and technological artefacts can be seen as outcomes of negotiated networks, in which actors use various translation mechanisms to shape each other’s roles and interests. With the rise of LLMs, we are also witnessing the rise of machine interpreters, and with them the technological drive to harness visual as well as other embodied and situational information about the context of interpretation in order to improve output precision. Biases of training data, together with biases driven by surveillance, control, and corporate interests, influence the development and mass deployment of machine interpreters. Science-fiction imaginaries problematise translation processes, both in the sense of communicating over linguistic and cultural barriers, and in the sense of negotiating the transfer of knowledge and technologies between mutually-alien contexts, while dealing with substantial political, cultural, and commercial interests. During the course, we will read a feminist science-fiction book of sufficient length to allow close study of complex social implications of translation and power. It will also provide a unified case study to which theoretical readings can be applied. The course will cover the following topics: Unit 1: Some Theoretical Underpinnings - Introduction to the philosophy of translation - The triad: author, translator, reader - Interplay between translation and power Unit 2: Science and Automated Translation - Translation in science as transformation of meaning between actors and contexts - Issues in technical translation and translation of scientific language generally and mathematics specifically - Inherent and designed biases of LLM-based translation Unit 3: Science Fiction - Imagining the role of science in translation technologies - Translation of and by non-human actors - Sapir-Whorf in contemporary science fiction Over the length of the course we will read and analyse, chapter by chapter, Suzette Haden Elgin’s Native Tongue (1984).
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DS , DR , MSC
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Registration & Places
- Max Places
- 30
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar | Translation: Science, Fiction, and Power | No time listed | 2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Science in Perspective (In “Science in Perspective”-courses students learn to reflect on ETH’s STEM subjects from the perspective of humanities, political and social sciences. Only the courses listed below will be recognized as "Science in Perspective" courses.)
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Type A: Enhancement of Reflection Competence (SiP courses are recommended for bachelor students after their first-year examination and for all master- or doctoral students. All SiP courses are listed in Type A. Courses listed under Type B are only recommendations for enrollment for specific departments.)
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Doctorate Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (More Information at: )