Beware of the Dictionary

A workshop in collaboration with Saint-Joseph University of Beirut (USJ) led by writer Fadi Toufiq

Beware of the Dictionary is a translation workshop that focuses on traumatic narratives. It aims to provide its participants with the necessary knowledge on the subject of trauma, investigating the verbal articulation of traumatic events.

This workshop was developed as a collaboration between the Foundation for Art and Psychoanalysis and the School of Translators and Interpreters of Beirut (ETIB) at Saint-Joseph University of Beirut (USJ). Since being established in 1980, ETIB has forged a unique place in Lebanese education not only as a learning institution, but also as a forum for reflection. Round tables, seminars, and conferences are an integral part of its mission to shape professionals who are flexible and can adapt to the ever-changing needs of the fields of translation and communication. ETIB’s approach is multilingual, multidisciplinary, and multifaceted.

Led by writer and multidisciplinary artist Fadi Toufiq, Beware of the Dictionary focuses on the translation of seven video interviews from With Time...—a project by Noir Barakat for FAP’s Oral History Collection. With Time… is an exploration of the traumatic narrative experienced by residents from the areas most affected by the explosion in the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.

Fourteen students from ETIB have been selected to take part in this workshop, running from June to September 2021. Following an inaugural lecture by Fadi Toufiq on traumatic events and their verbal accounts, students will work in groups. Beware of the Dictionary is structured to allow its participants to discuss their work and critically engage with other students’ practices. The focus here lies on turning the practice of translation from an occasion of decontextualization into an event of contextualization. The task assigned to the translators will therefore go beyond looking for the exact, equivalent words in the target language, seeking instead to contextualize the narrative while attempting to translate it. The outcome of this process will be an innovative approach to translation and a new way of dealing with subtitles on the screen.

Participating students: Diana Jor El Doueihi, Ghaydaa Jomaa, Marie Micheline Pangayao, Maya Salhab, Nathalie Dano, Tia Allouche, Ursula Rita Matta, and Wed Aljohani.

The Foundation for Art and Psychoanalysis has awarded a certificate to each participating student.

Fadi Toufiq is a writer and artist working with books, video, installation, and performance. His main interest lies in deconstructing grand narratives and reconstructing fragmented events, as close as possible to the way they unfolded and struck those who experienced them. His performative interventions and installations have been shown around the world, including Württembergischer Kunstverein (Stuttgart), MUMOK (Vienna), Performa (New York), and Centre chorégraphique de Rennes et de Bretagne.