Carnal Languages

This edited volume explores the multifaceted dimensions of sexuality and its expressions through a range of social contexts. The authors investigate language(s) and bodies as vessels for research as postulated by carnal sociology (Wacquant, 2005), exploring the intricate relationship between language, sexuality and the mediatisation of the latter (De Ridder, 2017) and focusing on how these elements intertwine to shape our understanding of sexual narratives, sexual health, sex positivity, and sexual identities. Questions raised in this volume include:

·         What are contemporary forms of gatekeeping in translation and ethnographic practices when dealing with sexual content?

·         How does censorship in communication affect the representation of sexualities?

·         How is sexuality presented in translation and ethnographic studies?

·         Which innovative methods are being used in translation and ethnography when studying bodies and Others?

The authors explore how sexuality and desire manifest, along with their potential biases and resulting knowledge gaps, through practical methods, established best practices and lived-experience testimonies from diverse backgrounds. They examine the translation of sexual terms across several loci of expression (e.g. audiovisual translation, literature, digital sexual identities); discriminatory uses of language and censorship; and ethnographic experiences concerning sex, gender, desire and intimacy. This book will be relevant to professionals and researchers in the fields of Translation/Literary Studies and Ethnography/Social Sciences.

Piero Toto is Senior Lecturer in Translation at London Metropolitan University, UK. He is the author of Queering Sexual Health Translation Pedagogy (2023) and co-editor of Gender Approaches in the Translation Classroom (2019); he has also authored articles on masculinity, queer language and translation pedagogy. He is an experienced English-to-Italian translator, a published bilingual poet and poetry translator. He is the co-editor of the multilingual poetry journal Atelier International.

Mirco Costacurta is Research Fellow in Sociology at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Milan La Statale, Italy. He studies how, and which kind of 'alternative imaginaries' of climate change are produced by young climate activists, and what their significance is for political mobilisation. Since 2012 he has been involved in sex-positive activism and sex education for young people and adults with the Italian LGBTQIA+-rights advocacy network Arcigay.