Melissa Pawelski

I have joined the University of Warwick in October 2017 as a PhD student and my project is supervised by Dr Oliver Davis (French Studies) and Professor Stuart Elden (PAIS). I am based in the School of Modern Languages (French Studies).

My thesis considers the English and German translations of Michel Foucault’s Surveiller et punir. Naissance de la prison (Paris: Gallimard, 1975): Discipline and Punish. The Birth of the Prison, translated by Alan Sheridan (London: Penguin, 1991 [1977]) Überwachen und Strafen. Die Geburt des Gefängnisses, translated by Walter Seitter (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1977)

I am particularly interested in the translation of concepts and ideas, such as pouvoir, puissance, supplice, dispositif and assujettissement. I have also started to explore Michel Foucault’s writing style and use of rhetoric, including metaphors and irony. The aim of this project is to make a contribution to the emerging disciplinary association of Translation Studies, Philosophy and Theory that recognises philosophical and theoretical texts as particularly challenging for translation.

Research interests

Translation of Philosophy and Theory
Philosophy and Theory of Translation
Michel Foucault
Philosophy of Geography
Reception and influence of philosophy and social theory in the social sciences

Conferences

11th May 2019
Translating Philosophy and Theory - Style, Rhetoric and Concepts
Humanities Research Centre, University of Warwick, One Day Interdisciplinary Conference
Organiser (HRC Doctoral Fellow)
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/hrc/confs/tpt

12th - 13th October 2018

La réception de la pensée française contemporaine au prisme de la traduction

Université Paris 3 La Sorbonne Nouvelle

Speaker 'Lire Michel Foucault en anglais: L'exemple de Surveiller et punir'

http://www.univ-paris3.fr/la-reception-de-la-pensee-francaise-contemporaine-au-prisme-de-la-traduction-505218.kjsp

23rd May 2018

PG Annual Symposium of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures

Questioning the disappearance of disciplinary boundaries, University of Warwick

Organiser & Speaker 'Connecting knowledges: Translation Studies as an interdiscipline'

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/postgraduate/pgsymposium

26th – 28th January 2017

Neue Kulturgeographie XIV Konferenz, Bayreuth University, Germany
Presentation (in German): “Michel Foucault: ein relevanter Denker für die Humangeographie? Ein Einblick in das deutsche, französische und britische Forschungsfeld” (Michel Foucault, a relevant thinker in Human Geography? Insights into the German, French and British research fields).

Publications

M. Pawelski, 'Traduire les concepts - le cas du supplice dans Surveiller et punir', in Palimpsestes 33 (2019), pp. 53-65.

Teaching

2019-20

Term 1 Seminar tutor FR121 Story of Modern France Wednesdays 10-11am H4.43

Full year Language Tutor FR201 Translation II Term 1 (w 3, 5, 8, 10); Term 2 (w 2, 4, 7, 9) and Term 3 (w 1, 3)
Thursdays 11-12pm H1.48
Fridays 11-12pm H0.60

Administrative Roles

2019-20 PG Rep for the Society for French Studies (SFS)

2018-19 SSLC Chair for SMLC

2017-18 SSLC Course Rep French Studies for SMLC

Awards

2018-19 HRC Doctoral Fellowship, University of Warwick

2018-21 CADRE Doctoral Scholarship, University of Warwick

2015-16 Postgraduate Scholarship, Swansea University

2015-16 Ede and Ravenscroft Anniversary Student Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Student Life

2014-15 Erasmus and Explo'RA (France, Rhône-Alpes) student bursaries

Membership

The Society for French Studies

Qualifications

BA (Lyon), 2015

MSc by Research (Swansea), 2017