Conference
WHEN
October 29 - November 1, 2026
WHERE
NYU Abu Dhabi Conference Center (A6)
WHO
NYUAD Office of Global Access and Engagement
Open to the Public
The third edition of the Dakar Translation Symposium (DTS) will take place at New York University Abu Dhabi from October 29 to November 1, 2026. Building on two successful iterations in Senegal and Ghana, DTS-Abu Dhabi will continue to cultivate critical discourses investigating the multifaceted dimensions of Africa and her diasporas, examining the future of the humanities while promoting international collaboration within the Black Diaspora and beyond.
“Africa and Her Hospitality” is the theme of this year's symposium. Since its inception, DTS continues to reimagine what stability means in a world marked by profound and often unexpected change. This edition invites participants to reflect on the many dimensions of hospitality, mutual exchange, and care. These meanings, rooted in the Latin hospes, also resonate with our understanding of translation as a practice of encounter, reciprocity, and ethical engagement.
DTS conceives translation as a practice of relation that does not seek sameness or equivalency. We welcome participation from scholars and creative practitioners exploring translation as modes of engagement that are multilingual, transnational, communal, and collaborative.
Since its inception, DTS has cultivated critical discourses investigating the multifaceted dimensions of Africa and her diasporas, examining the future of the humanities while promoting international collaboration within the Black Diaspora and beyond. The first edition, convened in 2022, was held at Cheikh Anta Diop University in the Symposium's namesake city of Dakar, Senegal. The second edition in 2024 led DTS to Accra, at the University of Ghana. For this third edition, DTS will enjoy the hospitality of NYU Abu Dhabi.
"Hospitality" is, incidentally, our theme for DTS-Abu Dhabi. DTS has continually reimagined what stability means in a world challenged by sudden and significant change. This iteration will continue to allow us to celebrate the UAE's resilience in the face of global and regional tensions while exploring the many relevant dimensions of mutual exchange and the care of others, which are meanings of the Latin root hospes as well as core tenets in our theory of translation.
This symposium conceives TRANSLATION as a mode of thought that allows for intellectual spaces and communities of practice to transcend colonial structures of separation and open spaces for new possibilities of gathering. It encourages translation across boundaries of language, discipline, and culture, as modes of engagement that are multilingual, translingual, collaborative, interdisciplinary, communal, and transnational.
DTS welcomes participation from academic and creative communities of all disciplines and backgrounds, including artists, writers, creative practitioners, researchers, and scholars at all career stages.
How can viewing translation through the lens of hospitality reshape the way we think about our world?
For our third edition, DTS invites papers and critical reflections that explore the many dimensions of our world through the lens of Africa and Her Hospitality.
We welcome creatives, researchers, and translators to submit work that reimagines translation as more than a process of converting one language into another alone, but as a meeting place of cultures, disciplines, traditions, and different forms of knowledge.
The call for papers is available in Arabic, English, French, and Wolof.
Please email Muneera Al-Khalifa at ma6896@nyu.edu with any questions.
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