Beyond order and magic: Complexity-based emergentism, social translation and the Wikitrad project

Abstract

This article sets off from two epistemological points. Firstly, it reviews Donald Kiraly’s approaches to translator education: his criticism of positivist approaches, his constructivism, his most recent emergentism. Secondly, it introduces some key concepts of complexity theory (to which emergentism is related), as put forward by one of his main advocates, Roger Lewin. Both departure points serve to erect a pedagogical project – Wikitrad – that creates the conditions for the emergence of learning while conducting a social translation of Wikipedia articles. The article describes Wikitrad’s design and implementation at the Universitat Jaume I (Castellón, Spain), reporting on the various stages of project design and student learning as well as its resulting attractors. It concludes with the confirmation of lessons provided by resorting to social translation in a class informed by complexity theory.