Xindi Zhu
(SAS) -
2024-25 Students
xindi.zhu@postgrad.sas.ac.uk
The Multimodal Translation of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Motivation: Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) represents the dynamic tapestry of human civilization, encapsulating our collective traditions and cultures. As highlighted by the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the ICH, preserving these diverse cultural manifestations is crucial. In the digital era, technological advancements such as transmedia, VR, AR, and 3D modeling allowed diverse forms of information to be digitally transformed and presented in increasingly vivid and comprehensive digital formats (Alivizatou-Baeakou, 2017; Rossau et al., 2019). While these innovations offer unique opportunities to enhance the representation of ICH, they also pose challenges in representing its dynamic, multimodal nature. Furthermore, current digitalisation methods tend to be technocentric and often overlook the cultural contexts and holistic nature of ICH, potentially leading to a loss of its evolving, living character (Carboni & de Luca, 2016). Addressing these challenges necessitates interdisciplinary solutions. There is increasing recognition of the need for a comprehensive digitalisation theory that integrates semiotics with new media technologies (Nantke, 2017), aiming to enrich the digital representation of ICH (Berlanga-Fernández, 2022). As Olteanu & Ciula(2022) argue, “digitalisation–when dealing with conversion across media–are forms of intermedial translation, hence of relevance to translation studies that found its theoretical grounding in semiotics”. Building upon this, this research aims to contribute to bridging these gaps by developing a theoretical and practical framework based on multimodal translation theory. This framework, tailored for cross-contextual applications, will bridge traditional understandings with the digital realm. It will focus on digitally preserving and representing the intangible attributes, living nature, and multimodal characteristics of ICH. Aim and Objectives: The overarching research aim of this project is to craft a viable digitalisation pathway for the digital preservation and representation of multimodal ICH content that addresses both challenges and opportunities. The focus is on ensuring long-term development while respecting diverse and multivocal cultural contexts. The objectives are as follows: 1: Apply interdisciplinary multimodal analysis to decode the diverse characteristics of ICH, reflecting its multifaceted nature and significance in socio-cultural contexts. 2: Explore translation strategies for transferring ICH from traditional to digital formats, ensuring the preservation of its intrinsic meaning across different modalities and contexts. 3: Develop a flexible theoretically informed and practically-oriented framework for multimodal translation of ICH, enhancing its digital access and relevance in a rapidly evolving digital world. Contribution: This research introduces multimodal translation from an interdisciplinary viewpoint and aims to provide a theoretically-informed and practically-oriented framework for effectively preserving ICH in today’s digital landscape. Academically, it forges a link between systemic functional linguistics and design theory, developing an innovative digital translation system that offers a richer and more culturally attuned representation of ICH. On the application level, the research enhances preservation and dissemination processes, employing advanced digital techniques for efficient data management and broader accessibility. This approach enriches ICH propagation, supports its systematic inheritance, and promotes cultural exchange through a shift towards more dynamic ICH engagement. Primary Supervisor: Dr. Naomi Wells |