Cognitive, Artistic and Spiritual Explorations in the Great City, Cambridge
One of the great strengths of Cambridge is the culture of open discussion of research in progress among researchers and members of the public, carried out within the context of the University of Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin university and other institutions in Cambridge, bringing alive in a potent manner the concept of an academic community, as a zone of collaborative learning without stress or rancour, which, ideally, shines its light in a way that those outside that zone may be directly illuminated by that light.
This is a selection from what particularly interests me in today's offerings by the University of Cambridge, along with my comments on each item in the selection.
1. Parliament and Human Rights
CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN THE ARTS, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
10 October 2016, 12:30 - 14:00
CRASSH Meeting Room
CRASSH Fellows Work in Progress Seminar Series
[ Particularly rich for sharing of incisive ideas in a convivial atmosphere, further nourished by good food. The presence of CRASSH director Simon Goldhill, as in the last session I attended, particularly enriches the discussion, on account of the striking suppleness of his mind. Very relaxing and inspiring at the same time]
Part of the CRASSH Fellows Work in Progress Seminar Series. All welcome but please email Michelle Maciejewska to book your place and to request readings. A sandwich lunch and refreshments are provided.
Dr Asif Hameed
Suppose that Parliament enacts human rights legislation in which it has great faith. It believes that the specified human rights protections are utterly fundamental, and wishes to prevent this legislation from being amended or repealed too easily. Accordingly, in the same human rights legislation Parliament also stipulates that these legislative provisions cannot be amended or repealed except by way of a Bill that manages to secure a two-thirds majority in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Two decades later, a new government is elected. It wishes to do away with the old human rights legislation which, it believes, has not worked in the way that it was supposed to. But its new Bill is only passed by a simple majority, not a two-thirds majority. Is the new Parliament legally able to repeal the old human rights legislation, or has it been legally bound by its predecessor?
There is disagreement among judges and legal academics about what the true state of affairs might be. Is Parliament ever legally able to bind its successors, and if so how?
Another question has perhaps received comparatively less attention from lawyers. What would be the more appealing state of affairs? Regardless of which state of affairs is true (as a matter of legal doctrine), which might we find more attractive? At CRASSH my research will attempt to make a modest assessment of the comparative attractiveness of two plausible views about Parliament's ability to make law. This research will, among other things, draw upon some of the rich literature in political philosophy and political science.
Dr Asif Hameed is a CRASSH Early Career Fellow In Michaelmas 2016.
Asif Hameed is a Fellow in Law at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He has been based at Cambridge since 2013. Prior to this he completed a D.Phil in Law at the University of Oxford, where he also taught several papers on the Law degree. At Cambridge, he teaches Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence (Legal and Political Philosophy) and European Union Law.
Asif's research interests lie mainly in the fields of Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence and Public International Law. He enjoys conducting research at the intersection of these fields. He is currently working on a book that is a mix of Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence. It is entitled A Theory of the Constitution, and it attempts (among other things) to shed new light on an old question: is the British Parliament legally able to make any law whatever?
2. Cambridge Conversations in Translation Research Group Seminar Series
Translation and Humour (Panel)
[ This series is always enriching in the scope of knowledge explored within the context of traffic across cultures represented by translation]
10 October 2016, 14:00 - 16:00
Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building
Professor Delia Chiaro (Department of Interpreting and Translation, University of Bologna)
Dr Graeme Ritchie (Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Natural and Computing Sciences, University of Aberdeen)
Moderator: Dr Marcus Tomalin (English/Engineering, University of Cambridge)
Humour is a universal human trait found across all cultures and throughout history, and one deeply embedded in them. Translating the combination of verbal humour and referential humour, for example, has often been likened to translating poetry: impossible. The imperative of the perlocutionary effect (amusement) complicates matters further, not to mention the fact that, to an extent, a sense of humour is innate and cannot really be learnt.
However, the increasing global demand for the translation, or adaptation, of humour in a variety of texts and contexts (literary, film and television, live interpretation, etc.), has produced a growing body of research by scholars and translators from various academic disciplines worldwide (Delabastita, 1996, 1997; Chiaro, 1992, 2005, 2010; Attardo, 2002; Vandaele, 2002; Zabalbeascoa, 1996, 2005, 2016). How should translation render parody when the parodied text is unknown to the foreign audience? If a degree of transgression is inherent in humour, what happens if its target is taboo in the receiving culture? What are the specific ethical implications for the translator? These are some of the questions we will be addressing.
The panel will discuss some of the questions that have emerged from the debate, exploring how the translation of humour has been addressed in different cultures and historical periods from a range of theoretical and practical perspectives.
Our two distinguished visiting speakers, Graeme Ritchie (Aberdeen) and
Delia Chiaro (Bologna), will discuss a wide range of issues, including
formal descriptions of the mechanisms of humour as well as
translation-based strategies for converting humorous utterances from one
language into another. There will be plenty of opportunities for the
audience members to participate in the discussion.
We look forward to seeing you there, especially if you would like to
find out why you only need one egg to make an omelette in France...
The CCiT Team
********************************
Dr Graeme Ritchie is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Natural
Language Generation group at the University of Aberdeen. His main area
of interest is creative language generation, and he has focused on
enabling computers to produce jokes, stories, and poetry. Within that
broad domain, his principal interest is in the formalisation of the
mechanisms of humour.
Prof Delia Chiaro is Professor of English Language and Translation at
the University of Bologna's Advanced School in Modern Languages for
Interpreters and Translators at Forlì. Since publishing _The Language of
Jokes: analysing verbal play_ (1992) she has combined her interest in
verbally expressed humour with her passion for cinema and TV by
examining what occurs when verbal humour in English is dubbed and
subtitled. Her latest publications include _Translation, Humour and
Literature_ (2010) and _Translation, Humour and the Media_ (2010), the
entries for humour and translation for the _Sage Encyclopaedia of Humour
Studies_ edited by Salvatore Attardo, as well as her forthcoming
monograph _The Language of Jokes in the Digital Age_.
3. Shakespeare: Translating, Adapting, Inhabiting
10 October 2016, 17:00 - 19:00
[ Very promising in relation to how a body of work spanning in content various social contexts but delivered in the language of the theatre of a point in English history has been successfully adapted in various social contexts across the centuries]
Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building
Professor Simon Palfrey (Faculty of English, Oxford University)
Dr Enza De Francisci (Department of Italian, UCL)
How have understandings of Shakespeare been changed by being performed in unexpected contexts – and how might Shakespeare's thinking alter what we think 'performance' is, both in and beyond the theatre?
Open to all. No registration required
Part of the Cambridge Interdisciplinary Performance Network (CIPN), main page
4. The evolution of the early solar system: What magnetism can tell us
[ The Sedgwick Club, a student society, always provides rich talks from front line experts in science, talks rich in scientific detail but also largely accessible to the layperson]
James Bryson, Cambridge World_link
Monday 10 October 2016, 17:00-18:00
Harker Room 1, Department of Earth Sciences.
If you have a question about this talk, please contact Alex Lipp.
Dr James Bryon has just returned to Cambridge, UK as a Junior Research Fellow having completed a PostDoc at MIT in Cambridge, MA. He will give a summary of the evolution of the early solar system and what magnetism can tell us about it, before explaining what his own research has revealed.
All welcome to attend, free for members of the Sedgwick Club, £2 for non-members. Refreshments provided!
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