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Article published In:
Translation Spaces
Vol. 8:2 (2019) ► pp.231–256

Towards a new methodological approach to social historiography of translation

A social network analysis perspective

ORCID logo | Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
ORCID logo | Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
ORCID logo | Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

In an attempt to appreciate the contribution that social network analysis (SNA) might offer to translation historiography, two main approaches are presented and discussed in this study: explanatory SNA and exploratory SNA. The former is more concerned with SNA measures while the latter deals with three potential narratives of social networks. The aim is to employ SNA in diachronic and synchronic dimensions of literary translation publishing historiography in Iran from 1991 to 2010, a micro-macro framework that seamlessly integrates agents’ relationships, visualization and network analysis techniques to explore the impact of ideological-political shifts on the quantity as well as quality of major agents’ relations. Furthermore, the study attempts to explore how the synergy between Giddens’ Structuration Theory (GST) and SNA can support a deeper and more empirically grounded understanding of translation historiography. The goal of the study is both methodological and scientific. The results of SNA graphical outputs suggest that there is a significant relationship between the structure of relationships in fiction publishing field and the dominant political discourse in Iran.

Keywords: translation historiography, social network analysis (SNA), fiction publishing, ideological-political discourse, explanatory / exploratory SNA, Structuration theory
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The agency-structure dilemma in Iranian fiction publishing
  • 3.Bringing GST and SNA together
    • 3.1SNA: The network of agents’ relationships
  • 4.Data collection and analysis
  • 5.Results: Iran’s fiction publishing networks
    • 5.1Explanatory SNA
      • 5.1.1Nodes and edges
      • 5.1.2Homophily
      • 5.1.3Density
    • 5.2Exploratory SNA: Narrations
      • 5.2.1The bird’s-eye view narration: Network typology
      • 5.2.2The snapshot narration: Sudden changes
      • 5.2.3The relational narration: Comparative analysis
  • 6.Conclusions: SNA and GST – promising ground for translation historiography
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 5 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.19003.ash
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