Incorporating languages into histories of war: a research journey

This article discusses the ways in which languages can be integrated into histories of war and conflict, by exploring ongoing research in two case studies: the liberation and occupation of Western Europe (1944–47), and peacekeeping/peace building in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1995–2000). The article suggests that three methodological approaches have been of particular value in this research: adopting an historical framework; following the “translation” of languages into war situations; and contextualizing the figure of the interpreter/translator. The process of incorporating languages into histories of conflict, the article argues, has helped to uncover a broader languages landscape within the theatres of war

International aid and development: hearing multilingualism, learning from intercultural encounters in the history of OxfamGB

This article explores the context of intercultural relations in the field of international aid and development. Examining the archives of a large UK-based transnational NGO (OxfamGB) through a detailed reading of its own sixty year long archived story, the article seeks to reimagine the 'contact zones' of aid and development as multilingual and intercultural. In doing so, it offers an empirically-grounded account of intercultural relations within a transnational institution, and seeks both to provide additional understandings of the politico-social power dynamics which frame such intercultural fields, and to contribute to current critiques of Western donor 'upward accountability' in development with its focus on the contractual, the standard and the quantifiable

War and culture studies in 2016: putting 'translation' into the transnational?

The first issue of the 'Journal of War and Culture Studies' in 2008 mapped out the academic space which the discipline sought to occupy. Nearly a decade later, the location of war, traditionally within the nation-state, is being challenged in ways which arguably affect the analytical spaces of War and Culture Studies. The article argues for an overt engagement with a reconceptualization of the location of war as broader in both spatial and temporal terms than the nation-state. Within this framing, it identifies local 'contact zones' which are multi-vocal translational spaces, and calls for an incorporation of 'translation' into our analyses of war: translating identities, including associations of the material as well as of subjective identities, and espousing a conscious interdisciplinarity which might lead us to focus more on the performative than the representational. Putting 'translation' into the 'transnational' marks the spaces of War and culture studies as multilingual, making accessible the cultural products and cultural analyses of a much broader range of sources and reflections. The article calls for the discipline of Translation Studies to become a leading contributor to War and Culture Studies in the years to come

Poetry, parables and codes: translating the letters of Indian soldiers

This chapter examines the role of translation in the work of the Indian Mail Censorship Department in France in the First World War, considering the position of the translator as an intermediary figure, and the implications for the military tasks of censorship and intelligence analysis of operating in this way from a foreign language

To germinate or not to germinate : a question of dormancy relief not germination stimulation

A common understanding of the control of germination through dormancy is essential for effective communication between seed scientists whether they are ecologists, physiologists or molecular biologists. Vleeshouwers et al. (1995) realized that barriers between disciplines limited progress and through insightful conclusions in their paper ‘Redefining seed dormancy: an attempt to integrate physiology and ecology’, they did much to overcome these barriers at that time. However, times move on, understanding develops, and now there is a case for ‘Redefining seed dormancy as an integration of physiology, ecology and molecular biology’. Finch-Savage and Leubner-Metzger (2006) had this in mind when they extended and re-interpreted the definition of dormancy proposed by Vleeshouwers et al. (1995), by considering dormancy as a having a number of layers that must be removed, with the final layer of dormancy being synonymous with the stimulation/induction of germination

A laboratory simulation of Arabidopsis seed dormancy cycling provides new insight into its regulation by clock genes and the dormancy-related genes DOG1 , MFT , CIPK23 and PHYA

Environmental signals drive seed dormancy cycling in the soil to synchronise germination with the optimal time of year; a process essential for species fitness and survival. Previous correlation of transcription profiles in exhumed seeds with annual environmental signals revealed the coordination of dormancy regulating mechanisms with the soil environment. Here, we developed a rapid and robust laboratory dormancy cycling simulation. The utility of this simulation was tested in two ways. Firstly using mutants in known dormancy-related genes (DELAY OF GERMINATION 1 (DOG1), MOTHER OF FLOWERING TIME (MFT), CBL-INTERACTING PROTEIN KINASE 23 (CIPK23) and PHYTOCHROME A (PHYA)). Secondly, using further mutants we test the hypothesis that components of the circadian clock are involved in coordination of the annual seed dormancy cycle. The rate of dormancy induction and relief differed in all lines tested. In the mutants, dog1-2 and mft2, dormancy induction was reduced but not absent. DOG1 is not absolutely required for dormancy. In cipk23 and phyA dormancy induction was accelerated. Involvement of the clock in dormancy cycling was clear when mutants in the morning and evening loops of the clock were compared. Dormancy induction was faster when the morning loop was compromised and delayed when the evening loop was compromised

Environment sensing in spring-dispersed seeds of a winter annual Arabidopsis influences the regulation of dormancy to align germination potential with seasonal changes

Seed dormancy cycling plays a crucial role in the lifecycle timing of many plants. Little is known of how the seeds respond to the soil seed bank environment following dispersal in spring into the short-term seed bank before seedling emergence in autumn. Seeds of the winter annual Arabidopsis ecotype Cvi were buried in field soils in spring and recovered monthly until autumn and their molecular eco-physiological responses were recorded. DOG1 expression is initially low and then increases as dormancy increases. MFT expression is negatively correlated with germination potential. Abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin (GA) signalling responds rapidly following burial and adjusts to the seasonal change in soil temperature. Collectively these changes align germination potential with the optimum climate space for seedling emergence. Seeds naturally dispersed to the soil in spring enter a shallow dormancy cycle dominated by spatial sensing that adjusts germination potential to the maximum when soil environment is most favourable for germination and seedling emergence upon soil disturbance. This behaviour differs subtly from that of seeds overwintered in the soil seed bank to spread the period of potential germination in the seed population (existing seed bank and newly dispersed). As soil temperature declines in autumn, deep dormancy is re-imposed as seeds become part of the persistent seed bank