Translation Studies Research Seminar Series: Zhinan Ji and Deepshikha Behera In brief Date - 12 November 2025Venue - Room G.06, 50 George SquareSpeakers - Zhinan Ji (Soochow University) and Dr Deepshikha Behera (IASH Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Edinburgh)Chair - Professor Şebnem Susam-Saraeva (University of Edinburgh)Titles - 'A Discourse Beyond ‘Oriental-Occidental’ Hybridity: Lim Boon Keng’s Translation of Zuozhuan in The Straits Chinese Magazine' (Zhinan Ji) and 'Untranslatability as Method: Practicing Plurality in Translation' (Deepshikha Behera) About the eventA Discourse Beyond ‘Oriental-Occidental’ Hybridity: Lim Boon Keng’s Translation of Zuozhuan in The Straits Chinese MagazineBy Zhinan Ji While Dr. Lim Boon Keng (1869-1957)’s role as a prominent Edinburgh-educated Straits Chinese physician, educator, and reformer is widely acknowledged, his clash with May Fourth writer Lu Xun in the 1920s led to his underrepresentation in China. Critical analysis of his publications in the English-language The Straits Chinese Magazine (SCM, 1897–1907) has conventionally focused on his efforts toward moral reform or elite didacticism; however, his translation of Zuozhuan (a commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals, traditionally attributed to Confucius) within his serial articles, ‘Anthropology of Chinese Literature’, has been largely overlooked. This divergence highlights the need to examine the role and agency of his Zuozhuan translation and how it contributes to his intellectual endeavours within the specific colonial context of the Straits Settlements.In this talk, I will argue that Lim’s translations published in the SCM should be viewed as an organically unified and mutually complementary body of work. Drawing upon the sociological turn in translation studies and Bourdieu’s field theory, my analysis treats the SCM as a competitive site where Lim strategically leverages the paratextual elements accompanying his translation of Chinese classics to elaborate on his translational ideology, didactic approach to Chinese teaching, and expectations regarding national character of the Straits-born community. I hence suggest Lim’s translation case may reveal how he frames Chinese culture to a Western-educated readership, consciously selecting which elements of Chinese tradition were ‘modern’ and compatible. Moving beyond the simple East-West dichotomy, his texts project the hybridised triple identity: communal affiliation with Malaya, political loyalty to the British Crown, and cultural allegiance to China. He thus uses translation as a discursive weapon, elevating Confucianism to a ruling cultural standard and thereby forging a hybrid intellectual position and an emergent Straits Chinese public sphere within the inter-space of the 20th-century British Empire.Untranslatability as Method: Practicing Plurality in Translation By Deepshikha BeeheraThis talk intervenes into the paradigm of translation by proposing untranslatability as a method in studying language-cultures in plurilingual societies. This marks a shift in the perception of untranslatability as a problem or obstacle in the process of translation towards a mode of addressing and acknowledging ‘difference’ in cross-cultural encounters.Drawing on my experience of translating poems of the Miya poetry movement into English alongside my ethnographic field insights in the course of interacting with the people of Miya community at Barpeta, Assam, I ask simple yet critical questions on translation as an intersubjective act arrived at through modes of ‘doing’ literature: reading, writing, listening, understanding. It further engages with the fuzziness of language boundaries and coexistence of multiple forms of literary articulation in the context of South Asia; and, studies the categorical underpinning of ‘dialect’ and ‘language’, as well as the politics behind such constructs. Through these reflections, I focus on the paradigm shift in translation, both in theory and practice, when arrived at through the methods of comparative literature.About the speakersZhinan Ji Zhinan Ji is a PhD student in Translation Studies at Soochow University and a visiting research student at the University of Edinburgh, where she previously gained her MSc in Translation Studies. Her research interests include sociological approaches to translation, translation of literary anthropology, and feminism. Her peer-reviewed articles have appeared in publications such as Journal of Language, Literature and Culture and Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. This project is funded by Soochow University Scholarship for Graduate International Exchange and Overseas Study.Deepshikha Behera Dr Deepshikha Behera is an IASH Digital Research Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. A comparatist working on untranslatability and language plurality in the Global South, she received her PhD in 2025 from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India. Deepshikha's postdoctoral project engages with the interplay of orality and digitality for 'low-resource' languages, AI ethics and creativity, and rethinks the notion of decoloniality in AI. Since September 2024, she has been a collaborator on the AI, Decoloniality and Creative Poetry Translation Project at the Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation Research Centre, University of Oxford. She also serves as an Executive Committee Member of the Oral History Association of India; an Early Career Member of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA)’s Research Development Committee. As one of the founding members of Comparatists in Conversation, a digital platform connecting a global network of scholars, Deepshikha engages with interdisciplinary and collaborative interactions among early career researchers. How to attendThis event is open to all and free to attend. No registration is required - just come along!About the seminar seriesEach semester, we welcome a fantastic range of guest speakers and colleagues to present a seminar on their work in translation.Our seminar series is run collaboratively by staff and postgraduate students, enabling our early career researchers to build networks and experience.Entry is free and no booking is required. Everyone is welcome.Are you interested in Translation Studies at Edinburgh?Providing excellent teaching and supervision, our postgraduate MSc and PhD programmes are among the UK's most comprehensive and flexible. Our expertise covers a wide range of research areas and many languages, of which you can choose to work with two. Find out more about postgraduate programmes in Translation Studies Tags Translation Studies Nov 12 2025 16.10 - 18.00 Translation Studies Research Seminar Series: Zhinan Ji and Deepshikha Behera An in-person seminar featuring two speakers, Zhinan Ji (Soochow University) and Dr Deepshikha Behera (University of Edinburgh), presenting topics on their respective specialisms. Room G.06 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square
Translation Studies Research Seminar Series: Zhinan Ji and Deepshikha Behera In brief Date - 12 November 2025Venue - Room G.06, 50 George SquareSpeakers - Zhinan Ji (Soochow University) and Dr Deepshikha Behera (IASH Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Edinburgh)Chair - Professor Şebnem Susam-Saraeva (University of Edinburgh)Titles - 'A Discourse Beyond ‘Oriental-Occidental’ Hybridity: Lim Boon Keng’s Translation of Zuozhuan in The Straits Chinese Magazine' (Zhinan Ji) and 'Untranslatability as Method: Practicing Plurality in Translation' (Deepshikha Behera) About the eventA Discourse Beyond ‘Oriental-Occidental’ Hybridity: Lim Boon Keng’s Translation of Zuozhuan in The Straits Chinese MagazineBy Zhinan Ji While Dr. Lim Boon Keng (1869-1957)’s role as a prominent Edinburgh-educated Straits Chinese physician, educator, and reformer is widely acknowledged, his clash with May Fourth writer Lu Xun in the 1920s led to his underrepresentation in China. Critical analysis of his publications in the English-language The Straits Chinese Magazine (SCM, 1897–1907) has conventionally focused on his efforts toward moral reform or elite didacticism; however, his translation of Zuozhuan (a commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals, traditionally attributed to Confucius) within his serial articles, ‘Anthropology of Chinese Literature’, has been largely overlooked. This divergence highlights the need to examine the role and agency of his Zuozhuan translation and how it contributes to his intellectual endeavours within the specific colonial context of the Straits Settlements.In this talk, I will argue that Lim’s translations published in the SCM should be viewed as an organically unified and mutually complementary body of work. Drawing upon the sociological turn in translation studies and Bourdieu’s field theory, my analysis treats the SCM as a competitive site where Lim strategically leverages the paratextual elements accompanying his translation of Chinese classics to elaborate on his translational ideology, didactic approach to Chinese teaching, and expectations regarding national character of the Straits-born community. I hence suggest Lim’s translation case may reveal how he frames Chinese culture to a Western-educated readership, consciously selecting which elements of Chinese tradition were ‘modern’ and compatible. Moving beyond the simple East-West dichotomy, his texts project the hybridised triple identity: communal affiliation with Malaya, political loyalty to the British Crown, and cultural allegiance to China. He thus uses translation as a discursive weapon, elevating Confucianism to a ruling cultural standard and thereby forging a hybrid intellectual position and an emergent Straits Chinese public sphere within the inter-space of the 20th-century British Empire.Untranslatability as Method: Practicing Plurality in Translation By Deepshikha BeeheraThis talk intervenes into the paradigm of translation by proposing untranslatability as a method in studying language-cultures in plurilingual societies. This marks a shift in the perception of untranslatability as a problem or obstacle in the process of translation towards a mode of addressing and acknowledging ‘difference’ in cross-cultural encounters.Drawing on my experience of translating poems of the Miya poetry movement into English alongside my ethnographic field insights in the course of interacting with the people of Miya community at Barpeta, Assam, I ask simple yet critical questions on translation as an intersubjective act arrived at through modes of ‘doing’ literature: reading, writing, listening, understanding. It further engages with the fuzziness of language boundaries and coexistence of multiple forms of literary articulation in the context of South Asia; and, studies the categorical underpinning of ‘dialect’ and ‘language’, as well as the politics behind such constructs. Through these reflections, I focus on the paradigm shift in translation, both in theory and practice, when arrived at through the methods of comparative literature.About the speakersZhinan Ji Zhinan Ji is a PhD student in Translation Studies at Soochow University and a visiting research student at the University of Edinburgh, where she previously gained her MSc in Translation Studies. Her research interests include sociological approaches to translation, translation of literary anthropology, and feminism. Her peer-reviewed articles have appeared in publications such as Journal of Language, Literature and Culture and Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. This project is funded by Soochow University Scholarship for Graduate International Exchange and Overseas Study.Deepshikha Behera Dr Deepshikha Behera is an IASH Digital Research Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. A comparatist working on untranslatability and language plurality in the Global South, she received her PhD in 2025 from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India. Deepshikha's postdoctoral project engages with the interplay of orality and digitality for 'low-resource' languages, AI ethics and creativity, and rethinks the notion of decoloniality in AI. Since September 2024, she has been a collaborator on the AI, Decoloniality and Creative Poetry Translation Project at the Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation Research Centre, University of Oxford. She also serves as an Executive Committee Member of the Oral History Association of India; an Early Career Member of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA)’s Research Development Committee. As one of the founding members of Comparatists in Conversation, a digital platform connecting a global network of scholars, Deepshikha engages with interdisciplinary and collaborative interactions among early career researchers. How to attendThis event is open to all and free to attend. No registration is required - just come along!About the seminar seriesEach semester, we welcome a fantastic range of guest speakers and colleagues to present a seminar on their work in translation.Our seminar series is run collaboratively by staff and postgraduate students, enabling our early career researchers to build networks and experience.Entry is free and no booking is required. Everyone is welcome.Are you interested in Translation Studies at Edinburgh?Providing excellent teaching and supervision, our postgraduate MSc and PhD programmes are among the UK's most comprehensive and flexible. Our expertise covers a wide range of research areas and many languages, of which you can choose to work with two. Find out more about postgraduate programmes in Translation Studies Tags Translation Studies Nov 12 2025 16.10 - 18.00 Translation Studies Research Seminar Series: Zhinan Ji and Deepshikha Behera An in-person seminar featuring two speakers, Zhinan Ji (Soochow University) and Dr Deepshikha Behera (University of Edinburgh), presenting topics on their respective specialisms. Room G.06 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square
Nov 12 2025 16.10 - 18.00 Translation Studies Research Seminar Series: Zhinan Ji and Deepshikha Behera An in-person seminar featuring two speakers, Zhinan Ji (Soochow University) and Dr Deepshikha Behera (University of Edinburgh), presenting topics on their respective specialisms.
