O objeto de estudo deste trabalho é o conceito de tradução e o papel central a ela atribuído no pensamento de Vilém Flusser e, em particular, em sua concepção de sociedade pós-histórica. A teoria linguística de Flusser, uma tentativa de conciliar a fenomenologia de Husserl e o existencialismo de Heidegger com a teoria da linguagem de Wittgenstein, define a língua como articuladora da realidade. Com base nessa teoria, Flusser concebe a tradução como uma das poucas possibilidades, senão a única, de superação dos horizontes da língua. As reflexões de Flusser sobre a sociedade tecnológica, consideradas pioneiras, são analisadas no esforço de identificar o lugar ocupado pela tradução no pensamento humano e em um mundo em que a história e a escrita estão perdendo espaço para as imagens tecnológicas. Destaca-se, nesse contexto, o papel fundamental atribuído por Flusser à tradução: o de criar pontes, não apenas entre línguas e culturas diferentes, mas entre os diversos ramos e modelos de conhecimento, articulando os diferentes sistemas simbólicos e permitindo a compreensão das diversas realidades. / The object of this dissertation is the concept of translation and the central role assigned to it in the thought of Vilém Flusser and, in particular, his conception of post-historical society. Flussers linguistic theory, an effort to conciliate Husserls phenomenology and Heidegger\'s existentialism with Wittgensteins philosophy of language, defines language as an articulator of realities. Based on this theory, Flusser sees translation as one of the few possibilities, if not the only one, of crossing the borders of language. Flusser\'s pioneering reflections on the technological society are analyzed here in an effort to identify the place occupied by translation in the human thought process and in a world where history and writing are losing ground to technological images. In this context, this work emphasizes the crucial role assigned by Flusser to translation: that of building bridges, not only between different languages and cultures, but also between different fields and models of knowledge, articulating the various symbolic systems and contributing to a greater understanding of the various realities.

O objeto de estudo deste trabalho é o conceito de tradução e o papel central a ela atribuído no pensamento de Vilém Flusser e, em particular, em sua concepção de sociedade pós-histórica. A teoria linguística de Flusser, uma tentativa de conciliar a fenomenologia de Husserl e o existencialismo de Heidegger com a teoria da linguagem de Wittgenstein, define a língua como articuladora da realidade. Com base nessa teoria, Flusser concebe a tradução como uma das poucas possibilidades, senão a única, de superação dos horizontes da língua. As reflexões de Flusser sobre a sociedade tecnológica, consideradas pioneiras, são analisadas no esforço de identificar o lugar ocupado pela tradução no pensamento humano e em um mundo em que a história e a escrita estão perdendo espaço para as imagens tecnológicas. Destaca-se, nesse contexto, o papel fundamental atribuído por Flusser à tradução: o de criar pontes, não apenas entre línguas e culturas diferentes, mas entre os diversos ramos e modelos de conhecimento, articulando os diferentes sistemas simbólicos e permitindo a compreensão das diversas realidades. / The object of this dissertation is the concept of translation and the central role assigned to it in the thought of Vilém Flusser and, in particular, his conception of post-historical society. Flussers linguistic theory, an effort to conciliate Husserls phenomenology and Heidegger\'s existentialism with Wittgensteins philosophy of language, defines language as an articulator of realities. Based on this theory, Flusser sees translation as one of the few possibilities, if not the only one, of crossing the borders of language. Flusser\'s pioneering reflections on the technological society are analyzed here in an effort to identify the place occupied by translation in the human thought process and in a world where history and writing are losing ground to technological images. In this context, this work emphasizes the crucial role assigned by Flusser to translation: that of building bridges, not only between different languages and cultures, but also between different fields and models of knowledge, articulating the various symbolic systems and contributing to a greater understanding of the various realities.

This interdisciplinary project investigates the extents and limits of alternative news translation in the era of globalization and virtualization and is guided by the insights drawn from actor-network theory, material semiotics, ethnomethodology, anthropology, news sociology, and the philosophy of translation. It visually represents the semiotic, sociological and material components of news translation as well as describes the patterned and concerted actions of human and non-human actors that go into making news stories in the context of IPS, a global news agency. A contribution is made to both theoretical knowledge and the development of the conceptual research method, which is given scarce attention in translation studies as compared to prevailing empirical research. A meta-semiotic concept of sociological translation that I formulate helps bridge the gap between tackling ‘translation’ in terms ofJakobson’s triadic classification as either an intralingual, interlingual or intersemiotic phenomenon, and the recurrent metaphorical usage of ‘translation’ in the humanities, social sciences and beyond. The concept is informed by the networked ontology of actor-network theory and embodies the idea that meanings and translation are created by means of social interactions rather than by language alone. It is suggested that sociological translation stands for any linguistic, material-semiotic transformations and social articulations, which are all enmeshed with IPS journalistic and interlingual translation practices. On the other hand, in view of the absence of methodological tools for studying nonlanguage-based translation in translation studies, I have assembled my own methodology drawing on the traditions of the wider humanities and the social sciences. My case study adopts Law’s ideas on method assemblage and Latour’s elaborations on infra-reflexivity which are well-suited for conveying the serendipity and messiness of ‘real-life’ research. It incorporates traditional ethnography, virtual ethnography and digital methods. Visualizing a network of sociological translations at different junctures as well outlining a holistic map of the concept allows one to observe the practices of journalist-editor-translators from both micro- and macro-perspectives. Finally, the studied phenomenon reflects modern conditions of life: non-stopping globalization and virtualization and is transdisciplinary in nature. Delineating and comparing the articulations of sociological translation in a wider connected and virtual context illuminates the concept’s mechanisms and contributes to the scholarly awareness of the complexity of news translation in a digital age. In conclusion, the thesis offers a new conceptual space within TS—translational sociology—which would strike up a conversation between TS and other disciplines in the social sciences with the goal of cross-fertilization of knowledge and finding better-informed interdisciplinary solutions to the shared problems including their linguistic, discursive and cultural aspects.