- Montclair State University

Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
Director, Center for Translation and Interpreting
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
1 Normal Avenue
Montclair State University
Montclair, New Jersey 07043
973-655-5525
[email protected]
EDUCATION
PhD in Translation Studies, 2011
Département de linguistique et de traduction, Université de Montréal, Canada
Dissertation title:
 “La traduction des motifs sonores dans les littératures africaines europhones comme
réactivation du patrimoine poétique maternel” (“Translating Sound Motifs in African
Literatures as the Writers’ Native Poetic Heritage”)
Distinctions:
 Dean’s list of exceptional doctoral theses
 Shortlisted for the competition of the best doctoral dissertations by the Université de
Montréal's Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies,
 Shortlisted for the competition of the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies'
Distinguished Dissertation Awards
Dissertation director: Professor Hélène Buzelin
Dissertation committee members: Professors Maria Tymoczko, Georges Bastin, Judith Lavoie,
and Taiwo Adetunji Osinubi
M.A. in Translation, Research Concentration, 2006
Université de Montréal, Canada
Thesis title:
 “La métaphore comme traduction d’une réalité est-africaine dans Sardines de Nuruddin
Farah” (“Metaphors in Nuruddin Farah’s Sardines: Translation of an East-African
Reality”)
Distinctions:
 Master’s Thesis Award for Excellence
 Ranked among the top 5% of the best theses
M.A. in Applied Foreign Languages (English & German), 1992
B.A. in Applied Foreign Languages (English & German), 1990
Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France
Concentration in Business Translation
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
French:
English:
German:
Spanish:
Somali:
native speaker
native proficiency
perfect command
fair knowledge
beginner
AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND FELLOWSHIPS
Dean’s List for best doctoral dissertations, Université de Montréal, Canada, 2012
Selected for the competition of best doctoral dissertations by the Université de Montréal's Faculty
of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, 2012
Selected for the competition of the CAGS/UMI Distinguished Dissertation Awards
(Recognizing Canadian doctoral dissertations that make unusually significant and original
contributions to their academic field), 2012
Selected for the Governor General's Academic Medal
(Recognizing the outstanding scholastic achievements of students in Canada), 2012
Doctoral Fellowship J.-A. Bombardier (SSHRC)
(35,000 per annum for 3 years), 2008-2011
University Scholarship in Translation Component
Canadian Government (Canadian Language Sector Enhancement Program)
(9,900), 2011
Dissertation Writing Scholarship
Département de linguistique et de traduction, Université de Montréal,
(2,000), 2010-2011
Academic Excellence Scholarship
Département de linguistique et de traduction, Université de Montréal,
 (5,000), 2009-2010
 (4,833), 2008-2009
 (5,556), 2007-2008
Master’s Thesis Award for Excellence
(Ranked among the top 5% of the best theses), 2006
Innovation Prize awarded by the RDA Internationaler Bustouristik Verband
For the Art History Travel Brochure “Jakobswege in Südwestfrankreich”
(The Way of St. James in South-West France), 2006
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Director, Center for Translation and Interpreting, Sept. 2015-present
Montclair State University, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
 Strengthen the specific skills of translation and interpreting at both the undergraduate and
graduate levels
 Foster opportunities for student internships and special projects in T & I (translation &
interpreting)
 Provide T & I services to the community
 Offer T & I trainings and workshops
 Develop translation curriculum in collaboration with all departments offering language
courses
 Teach graduate and undergraduate translation, language, and literature courses (French
and German)
Part Time Professor, 2013-2015
Montclair State University, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
 Introduction to Translation Theory (designed and taught)
 French Stylistics and Composition II (designed and taught)
 French Intermediate II
 Beginning French II
 Beginning French I
NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Department of Foreign Languages,
Translation and Interpreting
 English to French Translation: Human Resources (Asynchronous Online Course,
designed and taught)
Caldwell University, Department of Modern Languages
 Intermediate French I
Translation Curriculum Development, 2013-2014
Montclair State University, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
 Curriculum and Course Development for a French Translation Graduate Certificate
Proposal
Courses Designed:
 Literatures from East Africa through Translation (for the University of Burao,
Somaliland)
 Introduction to Translation Theory
 Special Topics in Translation: Adaptation and Screen Translation (English/French)
 Medical Translation (English/French)
 French Stylistics and Composition
 Introduction to French and Francophone Literatures
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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Teaching and Research Assistant, 2007-2011
Département de linguistique et de traduction, Université de Montréal, Canada
 Research Assistant for Professor Hélène Buzelin (Research project on language and
translation ideologies in college textbook publishing)
 Teaching Assistant: grade exams for a class of 100+ undergraduate students (Course title:
Concepts clés, [Key Concepts in Translation])
 Teaching Assistant: prepare course material for graduate students translation seminar,
(Course title: Traduction littéraire et comparée, [Literary and Comparative Translation])
Instructor of French Business Writing, 2003-2006
Bruner Business Communication, Toronto, Canada

Adapt teaching materials originally designed for an English-speaking audience

Facilitate French business writing classes (3-day seminars) to francophone executives in
Montréal and non-native speakers of French in Toronto
Translator, Reviewer and Writer, 2003-to 2011
On a free-lance basis, in the following areas:

Advertising, Marketing, and the Media

Arts, Art History, and Non-profit Travel and Culture

Health and Life Sciences

Human Resources

Poetry and Fiction

Scholarly Material
Intercultural Communication Manager, 1992-2002
(UK, Germany, and Japan)
Comité Régional du Tourisme Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France (Regional Tourism Authority)
Oversee all written and oral communications in English and German, including the supervision of
other translators and interpreters. Services offered include:

Manage Language Services Projects (French, English, German)
o Adapt written material to provide culturally-relevant content
o Translate, Write, Edit, Proofread
o Provide Liaison Interpreting

Develop Public Relations with the British and German media to enhance media coverage

Expand relations with cultural tourism professionals in target countries
PUBLICATIONS, PAPERS, AND LECTURES
PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
BOOK CHAPTERS
“Thundering Poetics/Murmuring Poetics: Doing Things with Words as a Marker of Identity”:
book chapter forthcoming in Writing Through the Visual and Virtual: Inscribing Language,
Literature, and Culture in Francophone Africa and the Caribbean, edited by Ousseina Alidou
and Renée Larrier. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. (2015)
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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ARTICLES
"Les voies de la répétition de Hove, la voix de la traduction chez Richard/Hove's Devices of
Repetition, Richard's Voice in Translation". Hermēneus. Revista de Traducción e
Interpretación/Hermēneus. Journal of Translation and Interpreting 16 (2014):143-166. Print.
“Translating Aural Aesthetics in Contemporary African Narratives: a Case Study”, Research in
African Literatures 44.1 (2013): 166-178.
“Poétique et politique traductive décolonisante : la traduction française d'Ayi Kwei Armah”.
Tusaaji: A Translation Review 1 (2012). Web.
“À l’écoute de l’écrit, vers une transposition raisonnée en traduction”. Pouvoirs de la
transposition : la pensée disciplinaire en question. Ed. Mathilde Branthomme. Montréal: Le
Groupe “Penser la théorie”, 2011. 43-56. Print.
“Les motifs sonores dans la littérature africaine europhone : exemple et jalons théoriques dans
une perspective traductive”. TTR 23.1 (2010): 95-122. Print.
“Traduire les réseaux métaphoriques chez Nuruddin Farah”. Meta 52. 4 (2007): 839-858. Print.
Dancette, Jeanne, Louise Audet, and Laurence Jay-Rayon. “Axes et critères de la créativité en
traduction”. Meta 52.1 (2007): 108-122. Print.
BOOK REVIEWS
Rev. of Reading Nuruddin Farah: The Individual, the Novel, and the Idea of Home, by F. Fiona
Moola (2014). Research in African Literatures, 46.2 (2015):170-172. Print
Rev. of Literature in Translation: Teaching Issues and Reading Practices, eds. Carol Maier and
Françoise Massardier-Kenney (2010). Meta: Translators’ Journal, 58.1 (2013): 256-259. Print.
Rev. of Translation as Reparation: Writing and Translation in Postcolonial Africa, by Paul F.
Bandia (2008). TTR 23.1 (2010): 194-204. Print.
Jay-Rayon, Laurence, and Mariana Raffo. Rev. of Interculturalidad & Traducción, Revista
Internacional/Interculturality & Translation, International Review, issues 1 and 2, eds. Santoyo
and Álvarez-Maurí. Meta 54.1 (2009): 161-163. Print.
Rev. of The Bilingual Text: History and Theory of Literary Self-Translation, by Jan Walsh
Hokenson and Marcella Munson. TTR 21.2 (2008): 256-266. Print.
UNDER SUBMISSION AND IN PROGRESS
Translating Poetic Soundscapes in African Fiction: Six Case Studies
Book manuscript completed, English translation in progress
Chair and Panelist: When Writers Double as Translators
2016 NeMLA Convention
Hartford, March 17-20, 2016
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Round Table Panelist: “What is Translation Studies?: Negotiating a Disciplinary Cartography”
“When a Discipline Struggles for Recognition: Should Translation Studies Translate Itself?”
2014 NeMLA Convention
Harrisburg, PA, March 3-6, 2014
Chair and Panelist: Conceptualizing Translation Theory
2013 NeMLA Convention
Boston, MA, March 21-24, 2013
"Poetically Correct? Some Thoughts About Decolonizing Translation Criteria"
Writing Through the Visual/Virtual:
Inscribing Language, Literature, and Culture in
Francophone Africa and the
Caribbean Conference
Center for African Studies at
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ, March 7-9, 2013.
"Thundering
Poetics/Murmuring Poetics: Doing Things With Words as a Marker of
Identity"
2012 Congress of the Canadian Association of Translation Studies
Traduction, Textes, Médias/Translation, Texts, Media
Waterloo, Canada, June 2012
"Les voix de la répétition chez Hove et l'écho de Richard. Réflexions intermédiales"
2010 Translation Studies Conference, Center for Translation Studies of the University of Illinois
& Université Paris-Diderot
Shifting Paradigms
Urbana Champaign, IL, October 2010
“How Foreign Is this Style? The Experience of Orality in African and French Surrealist
Literature through Translation”
2009 Conference of the Academic Reading Group “Penser la Théorie”
Transposition. Théories à l’œuvre
Montréal, Canada, November 2009
“L’écoute de l’écrit : vers une transposition raisonnée en traduction”
2009 Conference of the Nordic Society for Intermedial Studies:
Aesthetics and Intermediality: Transmedial Concepts and Phenomena
Aarhus, Denmark, October 2009
“Crisscrossing Borders of Reading and Listening to African Literatures for Translation Purposes”
Monthly Workshop of the Academic Reading Group “Penser la Théorie”
Montréal, Canada, November 2008
“Différentes conceptions de l’historicité et du regard sur l’œuvre chez Bourdieu et Benjamin.
Fonction, essence, gratuité et intention sont-elles conciliables?”
2008 Congress of the Canadian Association of Translation Studies
Translation Theories and Practices: East Meets West
Vancouver, Canada, June 2008
“Traduire l'oralité du roman africain : réflexions sur l'une des manifestations possibles de la
langue première et sur les possibles de la traduction”
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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4th Amherst-Binghamton Translation Studies Conference
Amherst, MA, May 2008
“Tackling the Sonorous Dimension in African Novels and Grounding this Aesthetic Device for
Translation Purposes”
INVITED LECTURES AND PUBLIC LECTURES
Public Lecture: “Fun with Translation”
Montclair State University’s French Day
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures & Institute for the Humanities
February 6, 2015
Public Lecture: “Translation: Who? Why? Where?”
Montclair State University’s French Day
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures & Institute for the Humanities
March 21, 2014
Guest Lecturer, Course CLT 150 “The Art of Translation” (Prof. Carolyn Shread)
“Examining the Translation of Sound Motifs in Six Contemporary African Narratives”
Smith College, Northampton, MA, March 10, 2014
Guest Lecturer, Five College Faculty Seminar
“The Identity of the Writer and the Positionality of the Translator: Reflections on Translating
Ayi Kwei Armah’s Fragments”
Northampton, MA, March 11, 2014
Guest Lecturer, Course "Traduction Littéraire et Comparée" (Prof. Hélène Buzelin)
Département de linguistique et de traduction
Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada, February 26, 2013
"Traduire la poétique de la violence chez Armah"
Guest Lecturer, Course "Étude comparée de la culture populaire en France et au Québec de 1967
à nos jours : les événements historiques, la littérature, la presse, la mode, la chanson, la
télévision, le cinéma, la publicité" (Prof. Mirella Vadean)
Département d'études françaises and NT2 Lab
Concordia University, Montréal, Canada, February 27, 2013
"Le livre audio comme manifestation populaire de la lecture"
Guest lecturer, Département de linguistique et de traduction Conference Series
Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada, November 2011
“Qu’est-ce qu’une traduction décolonisante? Regard poétique et critique sur la traduction
française d’Ayi Kwei Armah”
Guest Lecturer, Course "Key Concepts in Translation Studies" (Instructor Hasnaa Kadiri)
Département de linguistique et de traduction
Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada, November 2007
Conference presentation to undergraduate students
“Traduction et impact socioculturel : l’exemple du colonialisme et du postcolonialisme”
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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SERVICE TO PROFESSION
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Member of the Scientific Committee for Hermēneus. Revista de Traducción e
Interpretación/Hermēneus. Journal of Translation and Interpreting, since April 2015
Reader for Tusaaji, since 2013
Reader for Meta: Translators’ Journal, since 2009
Reader for publications of the Academic Reading Group “Penser la Théorie”, 2010
Team member of the ts-doc working group on Translation Studies, 2009-2010
Board Member, Academic Reading Group “Penser la Théorie”, 2008 to 2011
Doctoral and post-doctoral student organization offering monthly workshops, conferences
and publications on interdisciplinary theoretical aspects
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Grant Writer and Board Member, 2011-to present
Lakeland Youth Symphony Orchestra, Morris County, NJ
 Identify local government and private funding resources (Arts Council of the Morris
Area, Getty Education and Community Investment Grants Program, Doctorow
Foundation, Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Geraldine Dodge Foundation)
 Prepare grant applications to develop new programs for string orchestra students, expand
the organization's scholarship fund, and strengthen community outreach
PTA Board Member (France, Québec, USA), 2000-to present
Volunteering work in my two daughters’ schools include:
 Evaluating scholarship applications for high school seniors
 Translating children literature for reading aloud in the classroom
 Co-organizing book fairs
 Co-organizing international food nights
 Creating an organic vegetable garden
EXTRACURRICULAR EXPERIENCE: THEATER ARTS
Centre Culturel Français Arthur Rimbaud, Djibouti, 1997:
 Direct René de Obaldia's Édouard et Agrippine
 Play the role of Justine in a Djiboutian adaptation of Eugène Labiche's L'affaire de la rue
de Lourcine
CURRENT MEMBERSHIPS




Modern Languages Association (MLA)
North East Modern Languages Association (NeMLA)
American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)
Canadian Association for Translation Studies (CATS)
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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REFERENCES
Lois Oppenheim, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures, Montclair
State University, Montclair, New Jersey, 973-655-7423, [email protected]
Hélène Buzelin, Associate Professor, Département de linguistique et de traduction, Université de
Montréal, Montréal, Canada. 514-343-2391, [email protected]
Georges Bastin, Professor, Département de linguistique et de traduction, Université de Montréal,
Montréal, Canada. 514-343-7050; [email protected]
Sylvie Vandaele, Associate Professor, Département de linguistique et de traduction, Université de
Montréal, Montréal, Canada; Editor, Meta: Translators’ Journal. 514-343-7378,
[email protected]
Maria Tymoczko, Professor, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of
Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA. 413-545-5814, [email protected]
Jeanne Garane, Associate Professor, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures,
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. 803-777-2878, [email protected]
Jody Bruner, Founder, President, Trainer, Bruner Business Communication, Toronto, Canada.
416-781-0141, [email protected]
Dr. Laurence Jay-Rayon Ibrahim Aibo
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