Call for Papers: Words in Motion. Adapting, Translating and Transposing of Pedagogies

Call for Papers: Words in Motion. Adapting, Translating and Transposing of Pedagogies

Editors: Dr Karsten Kenklies, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland; JProf Sebastian Engelmann, University of Education Karlsruhe, Germany

The increase in international pedagogical discussions in the last years has shown that dialogue is challenging because pedagogical notions do not easily translate from one language into another. Adopting English as lingua franca of the scientific community has merely covered up such differences, with the incongruences surfacing very quickly in in-depth discussions. This is as expected as it is surprising: Expected, as everyone who speaks more than one language knows that languages do not translate into each other so easily. Surprising though, as there always has been an exchange of theories and ideas across national and cultural borders not only within Europe, but also across the whole globe. Sometimes voluntarily – on the backs of reasoning or fashions –, sometimes as a result of enforced enculturation, discursive seeds were sown and grew. However, something happened in this process, and what grew turned out to be a very different breed of pedagogical musings: Despite, for example, the widely available translations of Comenius, Herbart, Fröbel, Pestalozzi, Spencer, Dewey and others, Anglophone Education Studies represent a very different approach to pedagogical theorising than, to name but one, the German Erziehungswissenschaft. Paths of reception are, of course, eternally muddled, and all sorts of influences weigh heavily on such processes, but it might also be the result of the ways in which central notions and concepts have been translated, adapted, transposed, or even completely ignored.

We invite papers that shed a light on the ways in which pedagogic-theoretical structures or concepts have changed considerably during the process of their adaption and translation from one language, one discourse, into another. In uncovering such pivotal moments of shifting of meaning, we may become able to better understand why we often misunderstand each other.

For this special issue of GER we are seeking papers that illustrate, describe, theorise, or critique – either systematically or historically – adaptions, translations and transpositions in pedagogical theories in such international encounters.

Submissions should correspond with, but are not limited to, at least one of the following topics:
--Case studies on the travel of ideas with a focus on how certain aspects were adapted, translated or transposed
--Systematic reviews of how seemingly similar practices are theoretically discussed differently in different contexts
--Barriers of translation, e.g. of terms or concepts that are difficult to translate for a variety of reasons (e.g. Bildung, civilisation, education, pedagogiikka, kyōiku, etc.) 

--Theoretical ambiguities and cultural variations in the discussion of key texts or of key thinkers

Those who wish to contribute to this Special Issue, please send an abstract of no more than 250 words to:
sebastian.engelmann@ph-karlsruhe.de & karsten.kenklies@strath.ac.uk
by November 15, 2021. Please, attach your abstract as a Word document (please do not send PDFs) and write Global Education Review in the subject line of your email. Abstracts will be reviewed to determine the possibility of inclusion in the Special Issue, and you will be informed about the decision by November 30, 2021. Full manuscripts will be due by February 28, 2022. Submitted manuscripts will undergo a full blind peer-review upon submission to the journal. The issue will be published in December 2022.

Authors of articles invited for submission of a full paper are required to participate in the blind review of up to two articles submitted for publication in the same issue.