Geographia Polonica (2024) vol. 97, iss. 2

Europeanisation, westernisation or globalisation of the book market in Poland? Evidence from translation flows in Poland (1980-2022)

Lydia Coudroy de Lille, Alexandra Sandu

Geographia Polonica (2024) vol. 97, iss. 2, pp. 111-132 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0271

Abstract

The article provides evidence for the opening of Polish culture in the last four decades, focusing on incoming translation flows, i.e., the books translated from foreign languages to Polish. It answers the question of whether the circulation of cultural goods has followed the same pattern as the economy, i.e., a shift towards Western European influences. It shows, with quantitative data completed with qualitative data, that the Polish culture has opened up to Western culture but also to an increasingly global culture. The article explains the differences between both databases used for the research. The evidence further demonstrates that the sociology of translation influences the geography of translation flows.

Keywords: Sociolinguistics, geolinguistics, cultural geography, sociology of translation, translation flows, Index translationum, Polish National Library, graph analysis, Poland

Lydia Coudroy de Lille [lydia.coudroydelille@univ-lyon2.fr], Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Silesia in Katowice Bankowa 11, 40-007 Katowice: Poland; Université Lumière Lyon 2 CNRS EVS 4 rue de l’Université, 69007, Lyon: France
Alexandra Sandu [sandua@cardiff.ac.uk], Administrative Data Research Wales & Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods Cardiff University, School of Social Sciences Maindy Road, CF24 4HQ, Cardiff: UK