Review of Bassnett & Johnston (2025): Debates in Translation Studies

What is it about?

This article is a review of Debates in Translation Studies (2025), edited by Susan Bassnett and David Johnston, a volume that reflects on where translation studies stands today and where it may be heading in the future. Rather than presenting a single theoretical framework, the book brings together a range of perspectives that revisit long-standing debates in the field and reframe them in light of contemporary social, political, and technological changes. The review situates the volume within the historical development of translation studies, from its early disciplinary foundations to its current engagement with globalization, interdisciplinarity, and technological transformation. It shows how the editors conceptualize translation studies not as a fixed discipline, but as a dynamic and evolving field characterized by dialogue, uncertainty, and mobility. The chapters discussed in the review address diverse yet interconnected topics, including the relationship between translation and cartography, trauma, colonial and postcolonial power structures, ecological responsibility, artificial intelligence, datafication, and news reporting. A central theme highlighted in the review is the way translation functions as a form of cultural mediation shaped by power relations. Several chapters examined in the article explore how translation can both reinforce and challenge dominant ideologies, whether in colonial contexts, environmental discourse, or global knowledge production. Others focus on the changing role of translators, questioning how translation should be evaluated, how translator subjectivity is understood, and how professional practices are affected by technological developments such as neural machine translation and large language models. In addition to summarizing the volume’s contributions, the review offers a critical assessment of its scope and limitations. While recognizing the book’s strong interdisciplinary ambition and theoretical depth, it also notes the relative absence of practitioners’ voices and suggests that closer dialogue between academic research and professional practice would further enrich the debates. Overall, this review argues that Debates in Translation Studies presents translation not merely as a technical activity, but as a critical lens for understanding contemporary society. By foregrounding debate rather than consensus, the volume—and this review—invite readers from translation studies and beyond to engage with translation as a key site where language, culture, technology, and power intersect.

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Photo by Ling App on Unsplash

Photo by Ling App on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Translation plays a crucial role in how knowledge, culture, and power circulate across languages and societies, yet it is often treated as a purely technical process rather than a complex social and intellectual practice. This review is important because it highlights how contemporary debates in translation studies help us better understand these broader dynamics. By examining Debates in Translation Studies, the article shows how the field has moved beyond traditional concerns with linguistic equivalence to address pressing global issues such as colonial inequality, ecological crises, technological transformation, and the ethics of cultural representation. The volume discussed in the review demonstrates that translation is deeply entangled with questions of power, identity, and ideology, making it relevant not only to specialists in translation studies but also to scholars in the humanities and social sciences more broadly. The review is also significant because it draws attention to the growing interdisciplinarity of translation studies. The chapters discussed connect translation with areas such as cartography, trauma studies, environmental humanities, artificial intelligence, and journalism. By mapping these connections, the article helps readers see how translation functions as a bridge between disciplines and as a tool for interpreting complex social realities. Furthermore, the review offers a critical perspective on the limitations of current debates, particularly the gap between academic theory and professional practice. By pointing out the relative absence of practitioners’ voices, it raises questions about how scholarly discussions can better engage with real-world translation contexts. In doing so, the article contributes to ongoing reflections on the future direction of the field and underscores the importance of sustained dialogue rather than definitive answers. Ultimately, this review matters because it frames translation studies as a key site for understanding how meaning is negotiated in an increasingly interconnected and contested world.

Perspectives