LECTIO Summer School 2026: Translations in the Premodern and Early Modern World

Description

Since 2022, the LECTIO Summer Schools have brought together early career researchers (PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers) and professors to explore a specific theme from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, drawing on materials from Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Early Modern Period. This year, the masterclasses will focus on translation.

Across many fields of research, one can observe a broad and growing interest in translations from the premodern and early modern world. Translations provide valuable insights into how historical actors understood, engaged with, and adapted texts as they sought to convey meaning from one cultural or linguistic context to another. They also allow us to tell more nuanced historical narratives that account for the interactions between multiple cultures. This summer school brings into dialogue research on translations from different historical periods.

The Summer School programme consists of 8 masterclasses, each of which will be combined with a slot for participants to pitch their research and receive feedback. The masterclasses (ca. 75 minutes) are designed to be interactive and to encourage active participation. They will engage with one or more of the following three subtopics:

• the material dimensions of translation,
• translation techniques and methods,
• the role(s) of translators and interpreters within their societies.

The spirit of the summer school is to create a dialogue and allow the participants to learn about and compare approaches to the same subject across different disciplines. This interdisciplinary nature of the summer school brings everyone out of their immediate scholarly comfort zone and thus creates a space of mutual learning and opens up new perspectives. The setting of the school, at the Old Abbey of Kortenberg, provides a perfect opportunity for continuing the discussions started at masterclasses during informal meals and coffee breaks and contributes to the experience of a scholarly retreat.