Europeans in the voyages to the New World: (In)Credible Narratives, Cultural (Un)Translability?

elective courses
general courses

For MA graduates.

Classroom

The aim of the class is to acquaint the participants with the history of contacts between Europe in the Age of Discovery and new cultures the discoverers were meeting. The participants will be familiarized with narratives written during the voyages. A particular example of such encounters is Easter Island and the history of its exploration. The participants will learn how to analyze the travel reports, paying special attention to the attitude of the authors and their credibility.

Towards the end of the 15th century Europeans started to undertake long-range voyages of discovery, as well as the conquest of the New World. Among the results of those expeditions there were travelogues: ships logs, diaries, memories, second-hand compilations. The reasons to write those texts were varied, as well as the addressees; the nature of the narratives changed with time, together with the development of sciences and mentality of sailors (starting from diaries by Columbus, giving free rein to his imagination, to first scientific texts written during the Enlightenment). We have to remember that we are talking about describing new, unknown cultures; Europeans, having grown up in the culture of the Old World, had no proper methods to threat that subject. The aim of the class is the analysis of their travelogues, from the point of view of their origin, objectives, credibility and accuracy. The main thread is the (in)comprehension of foreign cultures, and, what follows, the (un)translability of the 'new' reality in the European context, the phenomenon occuring as well then, as nowadays. The participants are acquainted with former ways of information manipulation and interpretation traps that lead to distorting and stereotyping of a given culture image, as it is described from the Eurocentric point of view. A particular example of such encounters is Easter Island and the history of its exploration in the 18th and 19th century.

ATTENTION: The list comprises examples of lectures, some to be read in fragments

Publications by the lecturer:

Z. Jakubowska, Odkryta przypadkiem, pojęta opacznie. Wyspa Wielkanocna w osiemnastowiecznych relacjach podróżników na tle rozważań o spotkaniu kultur, Muzeum Historii Polskiego Ruchu Ludowego, Instytut Studiów Iberyjskich i Iberoamerykańskich, Warszawa 2013

Z. Jakubowska, Still More to Discover. Easter Island in an Unknown Manuscript by the Forsters from the 18th Century / Wciąż odkrywana. Wyspa Wielkanocna w nieznanym rękopisie Forsterów z XVIII wieku, Muzeum Historii Polskiego Ruchu Ludowego, Instytut Studiów Iberyjskich i Iberoamerykańskich, Warszawa 2014, ss. XXXVI + 213

Z. Jakubowska, „Wyspa Wielkanocna: egzystencja etni polinezyjskiej w ramach państwa chilijskiego” [w:] Społeczne problemy Ameryki Łacińskiej, Jacek Knopek, Michał Drgas [red.], Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2012, s. 112–132

Z. Jakubowska, „Osiemnastowieczne relacje z wypraw odkrywczych na Wyspę Wielkanocną: podwójne wyzwanie dla tłumacza” [w:] Przekład jako akt komunikacji międzykulturowej, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, Poznań 2013, s. 87–102

Z. Jakubowska, „Behrens’ narrative of the discovery of Easter Island: Two editions, two personalities, two realities”, Rapa Nui Journal, Vol. 26 (1), May 2012, s. 21–30

Z. Jakubowska, „Wyspa Wielkanocna w dziewiętnastowiecznych tekstach polskich” [w:] Polska – Ameryka Łacińska. Historia – polityka – gospodarka – kultura, red. Michał Drgas, Jacek Knopek, Anna Ratke-Majewska, Dom Wydawniczy Duet, Toruń 2014, s. 317–338

Z. Jakubowska, „The Forsters back in the spotlight. Unknown manuscript on Easter Island discovered in Poland”, Rapa Nui Journal, Vol. 28 (1), May 2014, ss. 68–87

Z. Jakubowska, „The Spanish expedition to Easter Island, 1770. Original documents and their rendition by Bolton Glanvill Corney” [w:] Found in Multiculturalism. Acceptance or Challenge?, Series: Warsaw Studies in Politics and Society – Volume 1, Peter Lang – International Academic Publishers, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien 2014, s. 107–119

Z. Jakubowska, „Aneksja Wyspy Wielkanocnej (Rapa Nui) przez Chile”, Nautologia, nr 152, 2015, ss. 43–50

Z. Jakubowska, „Isla de Pascua en el siglo XIX: unos ejemplos de relaciones de viaje y su análisis” [w:] Conocer el Pacïfico. Exploraciones, imágenes y formación de sociedades oceánicas, ed. Salvador Bernabéu Albert, Carmen Mena García, Emilio José Luque Azcona, Editorial Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla 2015, ss. 319–338

Other publications:

Source texts:

COOK James, Journal on Board His Majesty’s Bark Resolution [in:] The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery, t. II: The Voyage of the Resolution and Adventure 1773–1775, red. J. C. Beaglehole, Hakluyt Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1961, s. 1–682.

FORSTER George, A Voyage round the World, in His Britannic Majesty’s Sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years 1772, 3, 4 and 5. By Georg Forster, F.R.S., Member of the Royal Academy of Madrid, and of the Society for Promoting Natural Knowledge at Berlin, 2 tomy, printed for B. White, J. Robsen and P. Elmsly, London 1777.

FORSTER Johann Reinhold, Observations Made During the Voyage Round the World, red. Nicholas Thomas, Harriet Guest, Michael Dettelbach, University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu 1996.

FERNÁNDEZ DE QUIRÓS Pedro, Nuevos Memoriales / New Memorials, red. F. Mellén Blanco, Z. Jakubowska-Vorbrich, ISIIiI UW - MHPRL, Warszawa 2016

Monographs:

ABULAFIA, David, The Discovery of Mankind. Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus, Yale University Press, New Haven & London 2008.

BEAGLEHOLE John Cawte, The Exploration of the Pacific, Stanford University Press, Stanford 1968.

DALRYMPLE Alexander, An Historical collection of the several voyages and discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, t. II, Containing the Dutch Vogayes, London 1771.

DĄBROWSKI Mieczysław, Swój/obcy/inny. Z problemów interferencji i komunikacji międzykulturowej, Świat Literacki, Izabelin 2001.

FISCHER Steven Roger, Island at the End of the World. The Turbulent History of Easter Island, Reaktion Books Ltd, London 2010.

GEERTZ Clifford, Interpretacja kultur. Wybrane eseje, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2005.

GREENBLATT Stephen, Marvelous Possessions. The Wonder of the New World, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago; Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991.

HAUN Beverley, Inventing „Easter Island”, University of Toronto Press Incorporated, Toronto – Bufallo – London 2008.

KAPUŚCIŃSKI Ryszard, Ten Inny, Wydawnictwo Znak, Kraków 2006.

MÉTRAUX Alfred, Ethnology of Easter Island, Bishop Museum Press Reprints, Honolulu, Hawaii 1971 [1940].

OBEYESEKERE Gananath, Apoteoza kapitana Cooka. Europejskie mitotwórstwo w rejonie Pacyfiku, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2007.

PRATT Mary Louise, Imperialne spojrzenie. Pisarstwo podróżnicze a transkulturacja, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2011.

RENNIE Neil, Far-Fetched Facts. The Literature of Travel and the Idea of the South Seas, Oxford University Press, New York 1998.

ROUTLEDGE Katherine, The Mystery of Easter Island, Adventures Unlimited Press, Kempton 1998 [reprint I wydania z 1919].

SAHLINS Marshall, Jak myślą „tubylcy”. O kapitanie Cooku, na przykład, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2007.

SMITH Bernard, Imagining the Pacific. In the Wake of the Cook Voyages, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria 1992.

SNELL-HORNBY Mary, Translation Studies. An Integrated Approach, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1995 [reprint, wyd. oryginalne: John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam – Philadelphia, 1988].

STEINER George, After Babel. Aspects of Language and Translation, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998 [1975].

TODOROV Tzvetan, Podbój Ameryki. Problem innego, Fundacja ALETHEIA, Warszawa 1996.

Papers:

BERMAN Antoine, „Przekład jako doświadczenie obcego” [in:] Współczesne teorie przekładu. Antologia, red. Piotr Bukowski, Magda Heydel, Wydawnictwo Znak, Kraków 2009, s. 247–264.

BUKOWSKI Marcin, WIŚNIEWSKI Mikołaj, „Emocje międzygrupowe a stereotypy i zagrożenia społeczne: co jest przyczyną, a co skutkiem uprzedzeń” [in:] Wobec obcych. Zagrożenia psychologiczne a stosunki międzygrupowe, red. Mirosław Kofta, Michał Bilewicz, PWN, Warszawa 2011, s. 40–59.

CLENDINNEN Inga, „»Fierce and Unnatural Cruelty«: Cortés and the Conquest of Mexico”, Representations, nr 33, zima 1991, s. 65–100.

GEERTZ Clifford, „Distinguished Lecture: Anti Anti-Relativism”, American Anthropologist, nr 86, z. 2, 1984, s. 263–278.

KOFTA Mirosław, NARKIEWICZ-JODKO Władysław, KOBYLIŃSKI Paweł, „Deprywacja kontroli a poznanie i postawy międzygrupowe: znaczenie deficytów poznawczych i afektywnych” [in:] Wobec obcych. Zagrożenia psychologiczne a stosunki międzygrupowe, red. Mirosław Kofta, Michał Bilewicz, PWN, Warszawa 2011, s. 74¬–99.

LUKES Steven, „Different Cultures, Different Rationalities?”, History of the Human Sciences, nr 13, z. 1, 2000, s. 3–18.

TARNOWSKA Monika, „Kiedy odmawiamy »obcym« części człowieczeństwa? Uwarunkowania zjawiska infrahumanizacji” [in:] Wobec obcych. Zagrożenia psychologiczne a stosunki międzygrupowe, red. Mirosław Kofta, Michał Bilewicz, PWN, Warszawa 2011, s. 168–188.

URBANEK Dorota, „Przekład tekstu kulturoznawczego jako rekonstrukcja językowego obrazu świata” [in:] Przekład – język – kultura II, red. Roman Lewicki, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin 2010, s. 87–95.

VORBRICH Krzysztof Konstanty, Some Geographical and Geological Aspects in Johann Forster’s Posthumous Journals… Controversy—HMS Resolution Memoirs Never Refined, “Quaestiones Geographicae”, 31(3), Poznań, 2012, 89–105.

As a result of the attendance the participants should

• know how to characterize and evaluate the role and attitude of Europe in the context of its former contacts with unknown cultures;

• possess the skill of critical analysis of the travelogues written during discovery and exploration voyages;

• possess a more profound knowledge of a deeply interdisciplinary character of the topics treated (history, philosophy, cultural studies, traductology, linguistics, literary studies, anthropology, sociology, geography, biology...);

• be acquainted with the methods useful in further studies of the subject.

Participants' activity evaluation.