Hybrid books vs. market books: book translations in social sciences and humanities between France and Argentina (1990-2018)

Abstract

This article deals with cultural relations between France and Argentina in terms of book translations. For this empirical referent, extreme inequality is observed in both directions of the exchanges, both in terms of the volumes of exported/imported goods and the qualitative properties of translated books. The analysis focuses on the period 1990 - 2018 and on a singular genre of editions, delimited by the humanities and the social sciences. The work combines quantitative and qualitative demonstrations. Among the latter, it outlines a structural model that opposes market books and hybrid books. The formers are those that originate in standard procedures of the markets of symbolic goods, such as the trading of rights. The latter are the result of the authors’ own interests and those of peers who channel mediations for translating and publishing abroad. The first pole is predominant among French authors in the books of social sciences and the humanities published in Argentina, while the second pole is in the opposite direction of the exchange flows.

Keywords
Translation; Social Sciences and Humanities; France; Argentina; circulation of ideas; unequal exchanges; centers and peripheries