The Emergence of Accessibility Studies in Translation Studies and beyond

: From Methodology to Pedagogy

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the question of access and accessibility has been the epicentre of a wide and lively revolution in the most diverse venues of human knowledge, from scholarly research to social debate to regulatory and legislative contexts. Moving from the idea that access and accessibility are intimately connected to our ways of being in the world, living in society, and interacting with others, the publications collected in this thesis investigate the possibility of devising a framework able to maintain cohesion among the different views on access and accessibility, without dissolving them into a single unified position. Rather, it seeks to create and highlight the theoretical underpinnings whereby different fields, contexts, meanings and methods invested in and by access and accessibility can be uncovered so as to fruitfully interact and address some of the most pressing issues of our time. Over the course of the investigation, this framework has been formulated in terms of the emergence of an interdisciplinary field called accessibility studies. While analysing the distinctive traits of this field, the implications at both a methodological and pedagogical level are debated. Translation studies, and in particular, audiovisual translation and media accessibility, were chosen as the privileged contexts for the investigation of this process. In particular, media accessibility is here interpreted as one of the most mature areas in which the formation of accessibility studies has taken place, as well as the area that could lead it towards its full maturity.

Date of Award	31 Aug 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Roehampton
Supervisor	Serenella Massidda (Director of Studies), Karine Chevalier (Co-Supervisor) & Lucile Desblache (Co-Supervisor)