translation studies - Facultatea de Litere - Dunarea de Jos
translation studies - Facultatea de Litere - Dunarea de Jos
translation studies - Facultatea de Litere - Dunarea de Jos
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Foreword<br />
• create, maintain and gradually expand a thematic network which should create all<br />
partners the possibility to exchange i<strong>de</strong>as on cultural issues;<br />
• offer specialists from different fields of activity the framework for international<br />
collaboration;<br />
• provi<strong>de</strong> a cyber space for partners where they could not only express but also have<br />
their i<strong>de</strong>as published;<br />
• contribute to the better un<strong>de</strong>rstanding and integration of the members of other<br />
cultures into the majority-dominated world.<br />
The research carried out by the members of the Galaţi English Department explored<br />
gen<strong>de</strong>r <strong>studies</strong>, on the one hand, and aspects regarding minorities in Romania, in general,<br />
and the Roma minority in Romania, in particular, on the other. The contributions were<br />
presented in international conferences which took place in Germany (Köln), Portugal<br />
(Coimbra) and Swe<strong>de</strong>n (Malmo). The project managers are still doing their best to get<br />
European financial support to continue expanding the thematic network.<br />
The second major project has been <strong>de</strong>veloped within the FP6 international<br />
cooperation framework and focuses on possibilities of better knowing, un<strong>de</strong>rstanding and<br />
tolerating a wi<strong>de</strong> diversity of subcultural groups. Still running, this project entitled Society<br />
and Lifestyles: Towards Enhancing Social Harmonization through Knowledge of<br />
Subcultural Communities (SAL) was <strong>de</strong>scribed by Isabela Merilă who emphasized the<br />
participants’ intention to explore an impressive amount of research areas and mentioned<br />
that, so far, the results of their scientific investigations have been disseminated in<br />
international conferences which took place in Lithuania (Kaunas), Hungary (Pecs), Latvia<br />
(Riga) and Romania (Galaţi). The task of the Galaţi team has been the exploration of the<br />
Romanian hip-hop subculture and of the possible consequences of the phenomenon upon<br />
the Romanian society. (Project site: http://www.sal.vdu.lt )<br />
The plenary session of the first day en<strong>de</strong>d with Gabriela Iuliana Colipcă’s brief<br />
presentation of Gen<strong>de</strong>r, Migration and Intercultural Interactions in the Mediterranean and<br />
South-East Europe: an Interdisciplinary Perspective (GE.M.IC), the new FP7<br />
collaboration scheme approved by the European Commission. Joining the efforts of eight<br />
partners from Greece (as coordinator), Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, Romania, Spain, Macedonia<br />
and Turkey, this new project that encourages multicultural and interdisciplinary<br />
collaboration aims at shedding new light on migration trends, in general, and on women’s<br />
status as migrants, in particular, so as to challenge the negative representations of mobility<br />
and diversity in Europe, to contribute to improving policies and to promoting a fruitful<br />
intercultural dialogue. Six specific areas make the subject of research within this FP7<br />
project (starting from February 1, 2008), namely representations of national i<strong>de</strong>ntity in the<br />
media, education, urban social spaces and movements, religion, intercultural violence, and<br />
mixed and transnational families. Out of them, two – national i<strong>de</strong>ntity and the media, and<br />
intercultural violence – will be particularly focused on by the Galaţi team whose members,<br />
the presentation un<strong>de</strong>rlined, hope that their analysis of film and media representations of<br />
migration trends characteristic for the Romanian context, next to their investigation of<br />
migrant women’s testimonies regarding cases of physical and emotional violence (e.g.<br />
trafficking, rape, discrimination, etc.) as well as that of discursive violence accounted for<br />
on national i<strong>de</strong>ntity differences, will bring a valuable contribution to drawing the attention<br />
of the national/international aca<strong>de</strong>mic and policy-making circles to relevant issues of<br />
gen<strong>de</strong>r, migration and intercultural relations that need to be reconsi<strong>de</strong>red. Thus, the Galaţi<br />
team could take an active part in favouring significant changes for the better of the<br />
mentalities and practices related to (women) migrants and to their influence on the cultural<br />
heritage of Europe in the twenty-first century. (Project site: www.gemic.eu)<br />
The conference proceedings continued with concurrent sessions, so <strong>de</strong>vised as to<br />
allow the participants to share their research findings in language-specific environments<br />
6