Transitional/Translational Spaces: Evocative Objects as Triggers for Self-Negotiation

Abstract

Del Negro brings an educational perspective to bear on intersemiotic translation anchored in psychoanalysis. A tentative connection is made between Winnicott’s (Playing and Reality, Psychology Press, London, 1971) ideas about intersubjectivity and intersemiotic translation, via the use of evocative objects. The argument is that translation may generate important negotiations of the self. Ideas of alienation in education are introduced, and an auto/biographical cooperative research design; within this, she discusses a case study about two education professionals engaging with Jorge Luis Borges’s The circular ruins. This offers practical ideas to prompt adults to reflect about their lives, and particularly the place of unknowing. By establishing diverse connections, Del Negro provides researchers, translators and artists alike with fresh thinking to further investigate translational spaces in ways that may foster more imaginative living.