As soon as the American led countries won the Second World War in 1945, there was a constant fight between European identity and American pressure to mitigate the militant nationalism that had caused two world wars. Now, the efforts are being made to understand the process that contributed in the demilitarization of European countries by the American governments and also the role translation of European magazines played in setting up a new narrative.
Nonetheless, the recent developments show that Europeans are curious about a few facts on the steps taken to reduce jingoism in European societies. In one such attempt a joint Anglo-German research project is looking into the topic and set to spend the next three years studying the “Spaces of Translation: European Magazine Cultures, c. 1945-1965.”
Ambitious Project to Study the role of translation
Since the project is headed by Professor Andrew Thacker of Nottingham Trent University and Professor Alison E. Martin of the Faculty of Translation Studies, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the people behind the project claim that there would be a great research work and some revolutionary findings in the end.
A sumptuous amount of EUR 340,000 from the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) has been set aside for the project. Since a lot of curiosity is there with respect to the role translation in the setting up new narratives post-second Word War in the late 1940s and then in 1960s, the project will be examining a selection of literary and cultural magazines published in English-, French-, and German-speaking countries.
Studying Notions of European Identity
Since the writings and magazines tend to have higher impact in setting up narratives studying them is important to understand the extent of impact. Following these principles the researchers will investigate their use of translated literary and political texts that have played massive role in constructing notions of European identity. A major shift was took place from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1960s and still leaving great impression on the global affairs.
For instance, the second world war Europe also set ground work for rapid decolonization as most of the colonial powers were unable to control their colonies in Africa and Asia. Whereas the winners like Britain were not in condition to fund their occupation, the Germans, Italians and others losers did not have any choice. Overall the post-war period saw huge decolonization happening as nearly three dozen countries got freedom within ten years time.
Not just decolonization, the Americanization of European culture and society was also seen soon after the world war was over. Additionally, there was comprehensive rise of anti-militarism, and the strategic and ideological conflicts instigated by the Cold War. The project will be a massive study that may become a reference material for future research work on the role of language translation in setting up narratives.