Webinar on “Gender-Based Violence from the Perspective of Translation Studies” with Assoc. Prof. Hilal Erkazancı Durmuş

On Tuesday, December 23, 2025, Izmir University of Economics, Department of English Translation and Interpretation hosted a webinar titled “Gender-Based Violence from the Perspective of Translation Studies: Abjected Bodies and Translation” as part of the ETI 320 Subject Specific Translation course. The event, held via Zoom, featured Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hilal Erkazancı Durmuş from Hacettepe University’s Department of English Translation and Interpreting as the guest speaker.

The webinar opened with an introduction of the guest speaker by Research Assistant Aslı Melike Soylu, followed by a brief speech from Prof. Dr. Neslihan Yetkiner. Then, Erkazancı Durmuş took the floor and began her presentation by examining translation-related violence via the lens of Bourdieu’s “symbolic violence.” Once she had outlined the theoretical underpinnings of activist translation and ethics, she detailed how “body shaming” functions within this framework. Highlighting that translators have the agency to intervene in texts using specific strategies to reveal body-shaming tropes, she proceeded to analyze specific examples.

She discussed these examples, selected from cinema, television, and literature, by comparing them with her own proposed translations. She drew attention to the impact of word choice and translational activism on the reception of texts. She also stated that activist translations make discourses visible in a critical manner rather than censoring them.

Concluding the webinar with an overall assessment, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hilal Erkazancı Durmuş highlighted five fundamental conclusions. These were that "body shaming" is a tool of symbolic violence shaped by everyday language and aesthetic norms; that it manifests itself at various levels within the analyzed examples; that translation can reposition "body shaming" by making it either invisible or visible; that a translator's choices can enhance the reader's or viewer's critical awareness; and that even if a translation is not driven by an activist purpose, it can still create a powerful impact at the level of discourse.

The event concluded with a Q&A session, during which participants had the opportunity to discuss the details of the presentation.