UNDISCIPLINABLE: THE PLACE OF TRANSLATION STUDIES WITHIN THE HISTORY OF INTERDISCIPLINARITY IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

Interdisciplinarity at U.S. universities goes back at least to the turn of the nineteenth century. Whether interdisciplinary programs aim to increase integration with the natural sciences or to set up a counterforce to the intellectual authority of the sciences, thinking across linguistic differences has always been at the heart of interdisciplinary pursuits in the United States. As Translation Studies grows in prominence at US institutions, the challenges of balancing theoretical concerns and technical training is one among a slew of concerns for this interdiscipline ever in the making. An avid theorist of university reform, philosopher William James provides an antidote to any deadening caricature of foreign texts’ untranslatability with his notion of the “undisciplinable” thinker who perpetually turns to new sources in order to overcome old habits of mind, to achieve new experiences, and to produce more democratic forms of expression.

Keywords

• Transdisciplinariedad
• Educación para democracia
• Industria de la traducción
• Historia de la universidad en Estados Unidos