Humanities Institute 2026
The Leslie Center is pleased to announce The Craft of Translation, A Poetics of Practice, a Humanities Institute organized by James Dorsey (ASCL) and Michael Wyatt (COLT) during Spring 2026. The Institute proposes a broadening of the parameters that have defined translation in the Global North since the early modern period in Europe to encompass a multiplicity of further exchanges that have otherwise been categorized as adaptation, transcription, transposition, arrangement, and rewriting. Involving both language and its apparent opposite, silence, material things, and performance, these practices can—in addition to their independent forms of expression—realize something both more and other than their points of departure.
The core of the Institute is focused on the presence of cultural practitioners who work with the languages, literatures, histories, visual arts, and performative traditions of several diverse cultural "zones of energy." A list of events and Institute collaborators can be found below.
**Seminars are for Institute members only, while events marked "Public Event" are open to all.
This page will be updated with more details regarding specific Institute events.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
April 8, Wednesday, 4:15pm-6:30pm, Dartmouth Hall 104
Seminar: Introduction, Antonella Anedda
April 15, Wednesday, 4:15pm-6:30pm, Dartmouth Hall 104
Seminar: Claire M. Gilbert
April 21, Tuesday, 7:00pm-9:00pm, Moore B03
Public Event: Alessandro Sciarroni, FOLK-S and Aurora (films and discussion)
April 22, Wednesday, 4:15pm-6:30pm, Dartmouth Hall 104
Seminar: Alessandro Sciarroni
April 24, Friday, 2:00pm-3:30pm, 5:00pm-6:30pm, and April 25, Saturday, 2:00pm-3:30pm, HOP Morris Recital Hall
Public Event: Performances, Save the Last Dance for Me
April 29, Wednesday, 4:15pm-6:30pm, Dartmouth Hall 104
Seminar: Megumi Matsubara and Hayri Dortdivanlioglu
May 5, Tuesday, 7:00pm-8:30pm and May 6, Wednesday, 8:00pm-9:30 pm, HOP Morris Recital Hall
Public Event: Concerts, Francesco Libetta
May 6, Wednesday, 4:15pm-6:30pm, HOP Morris Recital Hall
Seminar: Francesco Libetta and Federico Ercoli
May 14, Thursday, 4:15pm-6:30 pm, Hood Museum Study Center
Seminar: Elizabeth Mattison, Jamie Powell, and Haely Chang (Hood Museum)
May 19, Tuesday, 7:00pm-9:00pm, Moore B03
Public Event: Performance and discussion, Goro Nakagawa
May 20, Wednesday, 4:15pm-6:30 pm, Dartmouth Hall 104
Seminar: Goro Nakagawa, Dartmouth Hall 104
May 27, Wednesday, 4:15pm-6:30 pm, Dartmouth Hall 104
Seminar: Conclusion
INSTITUTE PARTICIPANTS
Organizers
Jim Dorsey (Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages)
Michael Wyatt (Comparative Literature)
External Participants
Claire Gilbert (History, St. Louis University)
Francesco Libetta (pianist, composer, author, Hopkins Center)
Federico Ercoli (Music, Cornell University)
Goro Nakagawa (folk singer, translator, and social activist)
Carl G. Martin (English, in Global Humanities, Norwich University)
Megumi Matsubara (architect, artist, and poet)
Alessandro Sciarroni (performative artist, Montgomery Fellow, Hopkins Center)
Dartmouth Participants
Giorgio Alberti (French and Italian)
Mourad Boumlik (Rassias Center)
Hayri Dortdivanlioglu (Studio Art)
yasser elhariry (French and Italian)
Sujin Eom (Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages)
Berre Kahraman '26 (Studio Art, Comparative Literature minor in Translations Studies)
Graziella Parati (French and Italian)
Christine Richter-Nilsson (Comparative Literature, Distinguished Visiting Harris Professor)
Roberta Stewart (Classics)
Andrea Tarnowski (French and Italian)
Lilian Thornton '26 (Studio Art, Comparative Literature minor in Translations Studies)
Yiren Zheng (Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)