Translation of a Discipline The Fate of Rankine’s Engineering Science in Early Meiji-era Japan

Research in translation has until quite recently tended to eschew the translation of scientific material as a possible site of critical inquiry, with the exception perhaps of popular science, despite the prevalence of scientific texts and their related fields in translation practice. Moreover, historical perspectives on the transmission of scientific knowledge have not generally acknowledged translation and its potential to generate epistemological, narrative and ideological shifts in the dissemination of scientific discourse. In contrast, social constructivist perspectives which account for human intervention and contingency in the representation of science promote an analysis of translated scientific material that focuses on issues of rhetoric, ideology and translator’s agency. Drawing on the sociology and history of science, the history of ideas as well as various frameworks for textual analysis, the contributors to this special issue engage with different perspectives and approaches to help promote the visibility of scientific translation and shed light on its complex relationship with power and the construction of knowledge .