Panel

Translation, Culture and Politics. East-Timor still weaving across-roots
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Paulo Castro Seixas (Organizer)

Contact for paper proposals: pseixas@ufp.edu.pt

Panel proposed to the 6th EuroSEAS Conference, Gothenburg 2010 - 26 to 28 August 2010

In recent years we have been elaborating on the concept of ‘culture as translation’, conceiving culture as a continuous process of translation. We consider this concept critical for the analysis of globalization models (Center-Periphery; Global Network; Clash of Civilizations; Cross-Over). Translation is a core element in the political debate on Culture and Politics from many perspectives. As such, translation seems to be central for offsetting-up a new agenda for Culture of Politics and Politics of Culture.
We consider Timor-Leste to be a typical paradigmatic case in which translation is a manifest core process that should be analyzed both anthropological and politically. This panel focuses on this analysis in several ways:
• East-Timor/Timor-Leste is in between different models within the Southeast Asia itself, relating to China, Indonesia and Australia;
• State building is being done in between different political and cultural models, with an influences from Africa and China on one side, and the United States and Australia on the other;
• Democracy and security as a translation process among different western models and between those and the Timorese ones;
• Politics itself is a continuous stage of/for translation, through checks and balances of several powers, visible and invisible, modern and traditional, etc.
• Justice as well seems to be a contestation field with the hierarchical social structure on one side and the pretending equity of the justice imported hegemonic model on the other;
• Social structure, through alliances, is in a transition where traditional clan alliance processes (barlaque and others) are being contested as well as defended, creating differences and problems in the negotiating of social stability;
• Finally, culture is the envelope of everything. However, its languages, cultural narratives and politics, are also in stake. ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Modern’ appealing and the several paradoxical inner translations between each other are part of the game being played.
In a word, East-Timor is still on the cross-roads, weaving connections ‘across-roots. It is very relevant to think about and even to find our way out of the lost in translation situation of the globalization models in the present day world. Timor-Leste is the first new country of the Twenty-first century and the first case of State building by the International Community. As such, it is a most relevant case-study concerning translation in time and space.
 

Speakers:
Moisés da Silva Fernandes; Instituto Confucio – Universidade de Lisboa
Nuno Canas Mendes; Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas – Universidade Técnica de Lisboa
Rui Feijó; Universidade Aberta – Porto
Dionísio Babo Soares; Commission of Truth and Friendship. Timor Leste – Indonesia
Daniel Simião; Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais – Brasil
Kelly Cristiane da Silva; Universidade de Brasília –Brasil
Aone Van Engelenhoven; Universidade de Leiden – Netherlands
Lúcio Sousa; Universidade Aberta – Lisboa
Paulo Castro Seixas Universidade Fernando Pessoa – Porto /Euroseas Member