Multidisciplinarity in audiovisual translation

Abstract

The two pillars around which the breaking up of monodisciplinarity is reorganized, in Ostreng’s words, can be said to apply to, and portray, the evolution of Translation Studies (TS) and Audiovisual Translation Studies (AVTS). The hybridization and fragmentation of the “parent discipline” (TS), as a consequence of its very expansion and contamination, has in turn resulted in the emergence of sub-disciplines. AVTS, as a derivative research field, has soon achieved the “status” of a full-fledged discipline, attracting numerous researchers and leading to the organization of countless conferences, seminars, university courses and publications. Subsequently, the coming of age of AVTS in the last decade or so has coincided with a more decisive move into the territory of other disciplines, without any imperialistic ambition but rather in search of more solid instruments for the analysis of ever-changing scenarios, techniques and activities. Looking at the plethora of publications and conferences devoted to AVT and its study over the past two or three years, one cannot but notice a major thrust towards multidisciplinarity: even though it was probably never mono-, by asserting its own identity as a truly multi-disciplinary research field, AVTS has signed its own evolution.