The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, in collaboration with the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, the Higher School of Economics (HSE) University and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates to the Russian Federation, holds the international Conference "On the Path of Mutual Understanding: Arabic-Russian and Russian-Arabic Literary Translation" as part of the "Arabian Days" Festival at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow, on 21 - 22 December.
The Conference will address topics such as the fantasy genre in Russian and Arabic literature, the art of the novel and acculturation between Russian and Arabic, possibility of artificial intelligence replacing the art of translation, and how to contribute to the development of the art of translating Arabic literature into Russian and vice versa. The Conference will also include a cultural programme for participants, as well as Arab musical slots featuring a selection of famous sung poems by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
The Conference includes the participation of HE Dr Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, Karin Aghadjanian, Strategic Planning Office Director, Dr Berlant Qabeel, Programmes Section Head, Ibrahim Al Salama, Acting Business Development and Sales Section Head, Dr Wisam Al Hariri, Acting Operations Management Section Head, and Dr Abdallah Abu Shmaes, Acting Language Research and Studies Unit Head.
The Conference will also feature an elite group of Russian and Arab writers, poets, translators, and linguists, among which are Dr Felix Azhimov, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the HSE University, Dr Denis Volkov, Head of the Institute of Cultures and Ancient Classical Era at the HSE University’s National University of Research, and Dr Vitaly Naumkin, Head of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Head of the Main Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the National University of Research as well as Mohammad Rashid Al Mansoori, Head of the Political Department at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the Russian Federation, who are participating in the Conference's opening session.
HE Dr Ali bin Tamim, Ekaterina Koloskova, Lecturer at the Institute of Cultures and the Ancient Classical Era at the National University of Research, and Ekaterina Zvontsova, writer, editor, and instructor of literary skills, will speak in the first session titled "Fantasy Genre in Russian and Arabic Literature", which will discuss the role of fantasy genre literature in Russian and Arabic cultures, how fantasy genre is changing today, and the specific features of fantasy genre in Russian and Arab literature. The session will be moderated by Dr Vasily Kuznetsov, Vice President of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences and Head of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies.
The second session, "The Art of the Novel and Acculturation between Russian and Arabic", will discuss the art of novels’ features in modern Russian and Arab literature, the reason for the public's desire to enjoy this genre again, the common elements and differences between modern novels in both Russian and Arabic literature. Both journalist and writer Shamil Idiatullin, winner of the literary prize “Big Book”, and Dr Christina Osipova, Assistant Professor in the Department of Arabic Philology at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University, will be interviewed by the Egyptian-Russian journalist and translator Rami El Kaliubi, visiting lecturer at the School of Orientalism at HSE in Moscow.
The session "Will Artificial Intelligence Replace the Art of Translation?" will discuss the art of translation, the possibility of artificial intelligence replacing humans in translating, the specific features of using artificial intelligence technologies in Russian-Arabic and Arabic-Russian literary translation, and the impact of convergence of peoples and cultures -happening due to machine translation techniques- on the destruction of cultural identity. Dr Alexander Kostyrkin, Head Researcher in the Department of Asian and African Languages at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies, and Ksenia Burjskaya, author, poet, journalist, and specialized trainer in artificial intelligence, as well as Dr Abdallah Abu Shmaes, Acting Language Research and Studies Unit Head at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, will speak in the session, interviewed by Dr Berlant Qabeel, Programmes Section Head at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre.
In the Conference's fourth and final session, "How Can We Contribute to the Development of the Art of Translating Arabic Literature into Russian and Russian Literature into Arabic?", Elena Gimon, Visiting Lecturer at the School of Oriental Studies at the National University of Research - HSE University, and Dr Leonid Kogan, Deputy Director of the Institute of Cultures and the Ancient Classical Era at the National University of Research - HSE University, and Head Researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as Hind Khlaifat, Journalist and Director of "Derayah". The session will be moderated by Dr Vitaly Naumkin.
This is in addition to a number of Arab artists performing between sessions, including the first female oud soloist to graduate with distinction from Bait Al Oud in Egypt, Sherine Tohamy, who later became a professor at Bait Al Oud in the UAE and New York University Abu Dhabi, as well as Tunisian violinist Ali Dridi, who participated in the Tunisian Symphony Orchestra and the National Tunisian Band at the Regional Institute of Music in Bizerte, and Emirati percussionist Hussain Al Hammadi.
