Cultural Transfer

This issue of the cultural magazine is devoted to the live and oeuvre of the Polish/German artistic couple Maragrete and Stanislaw Kubicki, who acted as mediators between Both artistic scenes and the international artistic circles of the intrewar period.

I included in it also a long review with their son, Professor St. Karol Kubicki, who supported many museums and artistic organisations, and international researches before hie died in 2019.

The great value of the volume is also a big selection of seldom printed reproductions of artistic works by Margarete and Stanislaw Kubicki.

DEUTSCH
Das bildende und literarische Werk von Margarete (1891-1984) und Stanislaw (1889-1942?)Kubicki gehört zu den interessantesten Phänomenen polnischer und europäischer Kunst der Zwischenkriegszeit. Kubicki wurde zum herausragendsten Vertreter des Expressionismus und ersten konsequenten abstrakten Maler in Polen. Er gehörte gleichzeitig zu den Wegbereitern der prometheischen Strömung der polnischer Avantgarde, die die Utopie des neuen Menschen und der neuen Gemeinschaft lebte. Die Aquarellfolgen von Margarete Kubicka bestechen mit der Transparenz der Farbe, womit sie die Werke Delaunays i Jawlenskys in Erinnerung rufen. Die Zeichnungen, Linolschnitte und Gemälde ihres Mannes erinnern von der formellen Disziplin her an die geometrische Abstraktion eines Malewitsch und Mondrians, und verraten die Affinität Kubickis zur Naturwissenschaft und Philosophie. Die beiden Kubickis vermittelten Kontakte zwischen der Posener Expressionistenvereinigung  Bunt(Revolte) (1917-1922), die sich um die Kunstzeitschrift „Zdrój” (Quelle) gruppierte, und der Berliner Kunstzeitschrift und Galerie „Die Aktion”. Sie initiierten die Verlags- und Ausstellungskontakte polnischer Künstler in Deutschland. Ende 1918 reisten sie nach Berlin aus, wo sie sich dem dortigem Kunstleben angeschlossen haben. Ihre graphischen und literarischen Werke erschienen in den Zeitschriften „Der Sturm”, „Der Weg”, „Die Bücherkiste” und „a bis z”. 1920 stellte Kubicki als einer der wenigen polnischen Kunstschaffenden seine Arbeiten in der renommiertesten Galerie der Avantgarde „Der Sturm”. 1922 vertraten die beiden Kubickis Polen auf dem Kongress der Union Fortschrittlicher Internationaler Künstlerin Düsseldorf, dem wichtigsten Auftritt der polnischen Avantgarde in der Zwischenkriegszeit, dem Initiationsmoment der sogenannten Konstruktivistischen Internationale. Im selben Jahr organisierten sie auch in Berlin die Internationale Ausstellung revolutionärer Künstler. 1922 waren się Mitbegründer der Gruppe Die Kommune, und 1923der Gruppe progressiver Künstler, mit der sie ihre Werke in verschiedenen Städten Deutschlands und in Chicago ausgestellt haben. Die Kubickis wirkten vor allem im internationalen Künstlerkreis Berlins und kooperierten u.a. mit den Dadaisten Johannes Baader und Raoul Hausmann. Zu ihrem Bekanntenkreis zählten auch Schauspieler von Erwin Piscators Theater, sowie Maler Georg Grosz, Marc Chagall, Kasimir Malewitsch oder der herausragende Fotograf August Sander. Ihr Atelierwurde zu einer Begegnungsstätte von Expressionisten der Gruppe Bunt aus Posen und der Jung Idysz aus Łódź. Vorübergehend wohnten und schufen dort Jankel Adler, Pola Lindenfeld und Artur Nacht-Samborski. Nach der Machtergreifung Hitlers begab sich Kubicki nach Polen und während des Zweiten Weltkriegs wirkte als Kurier der polnischen Widerstandsbewegung. 1942 wurde er im Gefängnis Pawiak zu Tode gefoltert. Kubicka überlebte den Krieg und konnte zahlreiche Werke ihres Mannes und der gemeinsamen Künstlerfreunden retten. Sie blieb künstlerisch bis zu ihrem Tode im Jahre 1984 tätig.

Nur in den letzten Jahren wurden Werke der Kubickis u.a. in Los Angeles, Posen, Breslau, Brüssel oder Toulon, und vor kurzem auf der Ausstellung „Wir Berliner. Geschichte einer deutsch-polnischen Nachbarschaft“ gezeigt. Eine retrospektive Schauihres Schaffens wird zur Zeit im Nationalmuseum Warschau vorbereitet. Der Sohn von Margarete und Stanislaw Kubicki, Professor S. Karol Kubicki, war Mitbegründer und der erste immatrikulierte Student der Freien Universität zu Berlin.

POLSKI
Twórczość plastyczna i literacka Margarete (1891-1984) i Stanisława (1889-1942?) Kubickich zaliczana jest do najciekawszych zjawisk polskiej i europejskiej sztuki okresu międzywojennego. Kubickiego charakteryzowano jako najwybitniejszego przedstawiciela ekspresjonizmu i pierwszego konsekwentnego abstrakcjonistę w Polsce, a także za jednego z prekursorów prometejskiego nurtu polskiej awangardy, żyjącej utopią nowego człowieka i nowej wspólnoty. Serie akwarel Margarete Kubickiej urzekają świetlistością barw przywodzącą na myśl dzieła Delaunaya i Jawlensky’ego. Wyraziste formalnie rysunki, linoryty i obrazy jej męża, bliskie abstrakcji geometrycznej Malewicza i Mondriana,ujawniają jego pasję przyrodoznawczą i filozoficzną.Oboje Kubiccy pośredniczyli w kontaktach poznańskiej ekspresjonistycznej grupy Bunt(1917-1922),skupionej wokół czasopisma artystycznego Zdrój, i berlińskiego pisma oraz galerii Die Aktion. Zainicjowali wydawnicze i wystawiennicze kontakty artystów polskich w Niemczech. Z końcem 1918 r.wyjechali do Berlina, gdzie właczyli się w tamtejsze życie artystyczne. Ich prace graficzne i literackie ukazywały się w „Der Sturm”, „Der Weg”, „Die Bücherkiste” i w „a bis z”. W 1920 r. Kubicki jako jeden z nielicznych polskich twórców wystawiał w najsłynniejszej galerii awangardy Der Sturm. W 1922 roku oboje Kubiccy reprezentowali Polskę na Kongresie Międzynarodowej Unii Artystów Postępowych w Düsseldorfie, najważniejszym wystąpieniu polskiej awangardy w okresie międzywojennym, zapoczątkowującym istnienie tzw. Międzynarodówki Konstruktywistycznej. W tymże roku zorganizowali też w Berlinie Międzynarodową Wystawę Artystów Rewolucyjnych. W 1922 r. współtworzyli grupę Die Kommune, a w 1923 Gruppe progressiver Künstler, z którą wystawiali w różnych miastych Niemiec oraz w Chicago. Kubiccy tworzyli głównie w międzynarodowym środowisku artystycznym Berlina, współpracując choćby z dadaistami Johannesem Baaderem i Raoulem Hausmanem. Do kręgu ich znajomych należeli także aktorzy teatru Erwina Piscatora, Georg Grosz,Marc Chagall, Kazimierz Malewicz czy wybitny fotograf, August Sander. Ich pracownia była miejscem spotkań ekspresjonistów z poznańskiej grupy Bunt i łódzkiej Jung Idysz. Przejściowo mieszali i tworzyli tam Jankiel Adler, Pola Lindenfeldówna i Artur Nacht-Samborski. Po dojściu Hitlera do władzy Kubicki przyjechał do Polski i działał jako kurier polskiego ruchu oporu.Został zamęczony na Pawiaku w 1942 r. Kubicka,przeżyła wojnę, ratując wiele prac męża i wspólnych przyjaciół. Pozostała czynna artystycznie do swej śmierci w 1984 r
Tylko  w  ostatnich  latach  prace  Kubickich  i  ich przyjaciół  pokazywano  m.in.  w  Los  Angeles,  Po-znaniu,  Wrocławiu,  Brukseli  czy  Tulonie,  a  całkiem niedawno  na  ekspozycji  My,  berlińczycy.  Historia polsko-niemieckiego  sąsiedztwa.  Ich  retrospektywna wystawa  przygotowywana  jest  obecnie  w  Muzeum Narodowym w Warszawie.Syn  Margarete  i  Stanisława  Kubickich,  prof.  S.  Karol  Kubicki,  był  współzałożycielem  i  pierwszymimmatrykulowanym  studentem  Wolnego  Uniwersytetu w Berlinie.

a 25 pages review essay published in Acta Fabula (fabula.org) on the relation between Translation Studies, Comparative Literature and World Literature, on and around:
Jean-René Ladmiral, Sourcier ou cibliste. Paris : Les Belles Lettres, Coll. « Traductologiques », 2014, 303 p. EAN 978-2-251-70003-8.
Lieven D’hulst, dir. Essais d’histoire de la traduction: Avatars de Janus. Paris: Classiques Garnier, coll. « Perspectives comparatistes, série « Littérature et mondialisation», 2014, 321 p. EAN 978-2-8124-2100-6.
Eduard Stoklosinski, Another View : Tracing the Foreign in Literary Translation. Champaign / London / Dublin : Dalkey Archive Press, 2014, 213 p. EAN 978-1-62897-060-9.
Michaël Oustinoff, dir., Traduction et mondialisation. Paris : CNRS Éditions, coll. « Les Essentiels d’Hermès », 2011, 165 p. EAN 978-2-271-07127-9
Emily Apter, Against World Literature : On the Politics of Untranslatability. Londres / New York : Verso, 2013, 358 p.  EAN 978-1-84467-970-6.
Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, Reading, Translating, Rewriting : Angela Carter’s Translational Poetics. Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 2013, 374 p. EAN 978-0-8143-3634-2.

I copy the introduction in lieu of an abstract:
Cet ensemble de lectures choisies n’est certes pas hétéroclite, dans la mesure où chaque titre évoque, invoque ou revendique une affiliation thématique aux études de traduction (comme dirait Lieven D’Hulst en traduisant mot à mot les « Translation Studies » anglophones) ou à la traductologie théorique, sur plusieurs de ses versants : philosophique, anthropologique, éthique, politique, historique, humaniste, psychologique et psychanalytique… Cette diversité d’intérêts et d’angles d’approches, et même de définitions et de champs opératoires sous-jacents de « la traduction », pourrait cependant faire passer un tel corpus pour disparate (mal assorti, voire contradictoire, incompatible), au sens d’une douloureuse absence de parité ou de comparabilité ;  or la confrontation de ces très récents ouvrages, qui s’ignorent presque entièrement les uns les autres (à de ponctuelles exceptions près) et s’enracinent dans différentes disciplines, est fortement motivée parce que chacun à sa façon n’est concevable que dans ou sur fond d’une pensée de la comparaison et de l’incomparable, entre textes, méthodes critiques, espaces culturels, positions de pouvoir, conduites d’autorité, de soumission, de résilience ou de résistance. C’est ainsi, devant ou sous l’horizon des mondialisations et de la globalisation, que les problématiques traductologiques engagent inévitablement les pratiques de lecture et de production des textes, dans leur universalité anthropologique et dans les différentiels qui leur donnent, éventuellement, sens : autrement dit, l’objet ou les objets de la Littérature Comparée, au point que, d’un rôle d’adjuvant, ancillaire ou casuistique, certains prétendent hisser la traductologie à la place du comparatisme littéraire lui-même, en faire l’avatar le moins virtuel de la « Nouvelle Littérature Comparée » —oserais-je dire « Comparative Literature Mark II »— pour faire face, par une déterritorialisation interne supposée, à ce même marché global sur lequel on ne peut entrer que masqué.
Partant de l’essai le plus conservateur d’une tradition traductologique normative fondée il y a deux générations, et qui n’a guère cure de créativité, la présente étude aboutira au réinvestissement le plus caractérisé de la traduction dans une poïétique de la novation, et débouchera sur la conceptualisation en cours de la « translecture », en passant notamment par des politiques de la trace et l’exaltation de l’Intraduisible.

When faced with culturally anchored terms, subtitlers can render the
translation closer to the foreign language and culture, adopting a strategy of
foreignization, or closer to the domestic audience, thus adhering to a strategy of
domestication (Venuti, 1995). The goal of this systematic review, based on the PRISMA framework (Moher et al., 2009) is to identify, via structured and extensive selection of studies, assess and summarize the academic literature on domestication and foreignization in interlingual subtitling. The thematic analysis of comprehensive
contemporary literature aimed at understanding concepts, discussions, findings and
research gaps, to inform future relevant and constructive contributions to the current body of research. The analysis of 33 studies published in English and Portuguese between 2004 and 2020 examined five themes: overview of studies, orientation towards foreignization or domestication, translation strategies continuums, linguistic features covered in the studies, and reception of subtitles. Limitations of previous studies and under-researched matters are then presented to support future research. Further empirical studies on the reception of interlingual subtitling are recommended to advance the understanding of subtitles as a product, using dedicated methods and technologies to develop objective metrics about their perception and processing by viewers and move the audiovisual translation field forward.

This paper is an interpretation of some interpretation of the correspondences of literary and fine art works of Stanisław Przybyszewski, Edvard Munch and Gustav Vigeland.  Based on this researchI indicated the origins of the pre-expressionist theory of art.

Similiar paper of mine in German appeared in the magazine Deshima in 2009.

A Translocated Aura? Byzantine and Islamic Spolia in the West

Byzantine and Islamic spolia – objects of great concern to medieval craftsmen – were regularly integrated into artefacts that originated in the West. One can distinguish at least two different types of their story and their use. (1) The first type of story is that of spolia that came to the West in the form of fragments (apparently in large quantities). They were typically integrated into objects made for ecclesiastical treasuries. Often inscribed with Greek or Arabic words, these spolia were made eminently visible, though their nobility was somehow impaired by their decontextualization. Nevertheless, their individual aura was hardly affected by their re-use. The re-used fragment would maintain its original aura even within the newly created hybrid structure. (2) The second type of story is that of objects that came to the West as complete, undamaged artefacts which were subsequently fragmented for re-use in new, Western artefacts. In this case, spolia were typically denied visibility; instead, they were completely integrated into the newly created artefact. Reduced to their mere material value, the foreign fragments not only lost their original context, but also their aura. – How can we account for these two ways of handling spolia? Since literary sources lack any information on the matter, we must ask the objects themselves and the context in which they originated, looking for hints that reveal the underlying mentalities and intentions. Tentative answers can be found through considerations of political attitudes, the common wish to own objects of prestige, and, not to forget, aesthetic standards.

This paper is aimed at academics, students and practitioners in
order to discuss ideas that relate to design practice and academic research exploring whether designers should seek to include cultural influences in contemporary mass-produced consumer products aimed at a global mass market. It is often assumed that designers are adept at drawing from a wide range of cultural influences for generating differences leading to novelty and innovation when conceiving new designs. However developments in a range of areas from design education to 3d software and digital printing tools alongside the global strategies of major mass manufacturers has drawn this into question with the production of increasingly ubiquitous physical products. The discussion contrasts a number of diverse experiences from the author’s design and research practice working with highly skilled craftspeople in endangered practices through to global mass consumer products to assemble a picture of how industrial designers in the 21st century deal with cultural influences in their work. It questions the value of incorporating specific cultural influences in mass produced global products and asks whether we should continue the practice of earlier generations of designers in using our skills to enrich the lives of users and enhance product values by introducing expressive cultural influences. This develops the arguments of transnational design activity in relation to the homogenizing and heterogeneous globalising polarities produced through industrial design activity and ultimately suggests a reappraisal of how anthropocentric values are communicated in mass produced products.

People who discuss books in reading groups are playing a role in transferring cultural values, norms and ideas about themes present in the literature they read. How this cultural transfer takes place, and in which ways the process can be enhanced, has to date not been examined. Therefore, the University of Groningen, the Netherlands collaborated with two public libraries and a community organization to set up a research project addressing different aspects of the process from inside reading groups. The results imply that readers who are focusing on reflection and interpretation of literature play an important role in cultural transfer, which can be assisted by the use of reading guides. The collaboration between scholars and non-academic partners proved fruitful in co-creating knowledge that can be used in further research and to improve service to reading groups.

Using previous case studies by the authors and a current live project, this paper considers whether the creative industries in a developing country (Ghana, Africa) can be nurtured through design collaboration and an e-commerce model to contribute significant economic growth through increasing international trade. The paper draws on practical experience of five annual projects, with a focus on GoGlobal Africa. Initiated in 2005, GoGlobal is a collaborative design research activity between the University of Technology Sydney, the Royal College of Art, the London School of Economics, RMIT Melbourne, and other partnering organisations. GoGlobal Africa was initiated in 2008 with 3 phases: creative studio with design students from the RCA UK and KNUST Ghana; an e-commerce process for supply, distribution and marketing; and a “hub” location to facilitate project delivery and dissemination. The context to GoGlobal is informed by the UNCTAD studies of global creative industries.

People who discuss books in reading groups are playing a role in transferring cultural values, norms and ideas about themes present in the literature they read. How this cultural transfer takes place, and in which ways the process can be enhanced,has to date not been examined. Therefore, the University of Groningen, the Netherlands collaborated with two public libraries and a community organization to set up a research project addressing different aspects of the process from inside reading groups. The results imply that readers who are focusing on reflection and interpretation of literature play an important role in cultural transfer, which can be assisted by the use of reading guides. The collaboration between scholars and non-academic partners proved fruitful in co-creating knowledge that can be used in further research and to improve service to reading groups.

This paper is a compact analysis of the three phases of the expressionism in the Polish art.
Scholars distinguish three phases of expressionism in Poland: an anticipated symbolic art nou-veau about 1900; an explicitly programmatic expressionism, beginning near the end of the First World  War  and  lasting  only  three  to  four  years;  and  a  third,  historical,  late  expressionism  in  the 1930s. The first includes the work of artists such as Mikołaj Konstanty Czurlanis (Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis), Wojciech Weiss (inspired by Edvard Munch), and Stanisław Wyspiański Witkacy (compared to James Ensor) and writings by Stanisław Przybyszewski, Wacław Berent, and Tadeusz Miciński. Late expressionism of the 1920s and 1930s was identified with the visual and literary œuvre of Bruno Schulz and the poetry of the Czartak group.8 These two nonhis-torical phases of implicit expressionism were both more highly valued by Polish art historians than the third phase of expressionism, which ran parallel to the second generation in Germany.9Expressive and expressionist tendencies in Polish art are present still in contemporary art, in part as a programmatic neoexpressionism in the work of artists inspired by Bunt, in part as a movement similar to the Neue Wilde (New Wild Artists) in Germany of the 1980s and later

Abstract: This article undertakes to map the mutual encounter between Anne Frank
and Hungary. Anne Frank referred to Hungary in her diary on the 31 st of March 1944
mentioning the German occupation of the country and the one million Hungarian Jews who would be persecuted. She also copied in her Favourite Quotes Notebook some quotations from the romantic biographies written by the Hungarian writer, Zsolt Harsányi (1887–1943) she read in the secret annex. Her diary The Secret Annex was published in Hungarian translation several times at several publishing houses. All these publications were different and are examined in their systemic context. The translations themselves and their paratexts have been changing from time tot time depending on the cultural and political climate of Hungary.
First, I try to find out whether there are similar thoughts to be found in the diary to
the Harsányi quotations in Frank's Favourite Quotes Notebook. If yes, can we consider these analogies as intertextuality? Second, I describe the history of the Hungarian translations and editions of Anne Frank's diary in their historical and cultural context. I hope to show the development of the different publications from 1958 until today.
Keywords: Holocaust – intertextuality – systemic context – polysystem theory –
translation – biography – cultural mediators

The aim of GoGlobal Ghana was to consider whether the creative industries in a developing country could be nurtured through design collaboration and an e-commerce model to contribute significant economic growth through increasing the level of international trade. The project was initiated with three phases planned for execution: a creative studio with design students from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London and the Kwame Nkruma University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, an e-commerce process for supply, distribution and marketing; and finally a “hub” location to facilitate project delivery and dissemination to other African regions.

The First World War and its consequences:
The image of Germany in Spain from 1914 onwards
ABSTRACT
In spite of the neutrality declared by the Spanish government during the First World War, this
European military conflict sparkles off an ardent clash between two camps: Germanophiles and
Francophiles, that is, between the defenders of the German Empire and those who support France. At
the beginning of the 20th century there is an enormous interest in the German culture among the
Spanish people; however, the image of Germany in Spain changes radically from 1914. The Spanish
press echoes this ideological confrontation which is leaded by the intellectuals of the moment. The
most representative figures of the Spanish thinking take an active part in politics, signing passionate
manifestos that are published in the most important newspapers. The inclusion of a majority of
influential intellectuals in the anti-German camp generates a social rejection and a generalized lack of
interest in the German culture in Spain.

The concept of geographically liberated difference has emerged from the overlap of cultural studies and economics as a critique of the effects of globalisation on cultures through the manufacturing and distribution of artefacts with unique differences across diverse territories. Although this concept is known in the domains of cultural studies and economics, very little has been written on its effect and understanding within design, especially industrial design. Industrial design has vast influence on the production and distribution of products across the globe from small scale to mass production of millions of units. The mechanisms by which design influences the evolution of cultures through the concept of geographically liberated difference are important for future development. Research by the authors indicates parallel streams of both digital and analogue methods supporting successful models of geographically liberated difference in design practice. Examples of these approaches are discussed to uncover the operable mechanisms and arguments concerning the future value and influence of this feature of globalisation.

Samenvatting In Conscience in Scandinavië. Een bibliografische verkenning (1985) heeft Hilda Van Assche aangetoond dat het werk van Conscience in de lange negentiende eeuw vertaald werd in de Scandinavische talen en het Fins. Meer dan vijftig jaar na zijn publicatie (in 1838) werd Consciences bekendste roman De Leeuw van Vlaenderen vertaald in het Noors (1892), het Deens (1901) en het Fins (1919). Als uitbreiding op de bibliografie van Van Assche heb ik in de digitale databanken van Deense, Noorse en Zweedse bibliotheken gezocht naar werk van Conscience in de originele taal en in vreemde talen. Na de laatste vertaling in 1919 werden er redelijk wat werken van Conscience in de Scandinavische bibliotheken opgenomen, zowel in de originele taal als in talen zoals het Frans. De Leeuw van Vlaenderen is ook te vinden in Zweedse bibliotheken. De beschikbaarheid van Consciences oeuvre is weliswaar geen maatstaf voor de zichtbaarheid ervan in het Scandinavische literaire veld. Wordt Conscience genoemd in Scandinavische literatuurgeschiedenissen en in de overzichtswerken over Nederlandstalige literatuur die in Scandinavië zijn geschreven? Waarom werd De Leeuw van Vlaenderen pas op het einde van de negentiende eeuw in het Deens en het Noors vertaald? En waarom gebeurde dat pas in 1919 in het Fins en zelfs helemaal niet in het Zweeds? Mijn veronderstelling is dat bepaalde ontwikkelingen in de Scandinavische literatuurgeschiedenis en de plaatselijke taalpolitiek daarin een belangrijke rol hebben gespeeld, en dat de roman moet worden beschouwd als een voorbeeld van transnationale romantiek.

Zie ook:  https://www.verslagenenmededelingen.be/index.php/VM/article/view/70

Le présent ouvrage traite de l’apparent paradoxe selon lequel le nationalisme puisse se cristalliser dans la musique instrumentale qui semble se soustraire par excellence au discours de l’idéologie. Mais la musique constitue un enjeu politique déterminant à l’époque où se constituent et s’affrontent les nations comme entités culturelles. La musique à programme est un cas exemplaire de cette rivalité dans la construction de deux écoles nationales, l’une allemande, l’autre française : la Neudeutsche Schule et la Société nationale de musique.
Entre 1830 et 1914, les innovations dans le domaine de la musique à programme suivent un cheminement entre Paris et Weimar. Les œuvres musicales deviennent progressivement des objets identitaires alors qu’elles sont le produit d’un transfert culturel ; la musique à programme se développe par un système d’échanges permanents entre la France et l’Allemagne.
Celle-ci est analysée historiquement à partir de ses institutions, de ses genres et de ses œuvres, dont celles de Berlioz, Liszt, Chausson, d’Indy et Debussy.

The paper includes a comparative analysis of the origins and meaning of the painting of Munch and the  novel of Stanislaw Przybyszewski of the same title.  The other focus are influences of Munch's oeuvre on the art prints of the Poznan based expressionist group Bunt (Revolt) and Przybyszewski's theoretical statements on expressionism.

What about the unsuccessful cultural transfers? In ”A Cultural Transfer History: Possibilities and Prerequisites. The Case of Henriette Roland Holst, Martha Muusses and Hagar Olsson”, Petra Broomans states that they are equally important for understanding the history and dynamics of cultural transfer. Through the example of the Dutch writer Henriette Roland Holst and her translators, she brings forward the transmitters and their circumstances, and stresses the importance of knowledge about material and context for the understanding of the success or failure of cultural transmission.

Introduction to the volume together with the editors Margaretha Fahlgren and Anna Williams

Earliest pottery evidence in Cantabrian Spain materialises the way this new technology was adopted on the threshold of the 5th millennium cal BC. These ceramic assemblages have rarely been the object of specific
study owing to their limited representativeness from both numerical and morpho-decorative points of view. This paper presents an update on the archaeological evidence, chronology and technological characteristics
of the first pottery in the Cantabrian region. It summarizes recent research on this topic focused on technological analysis of some paradigmatic pottery assemblages. It focuses on the importance of the technological study of the first ceramic assemblages in the Cantabrian region (northern Spain) as a way to approach the social significance of this technological innovation. The available information supports the assertion that the appearance of ceramics in the region does not correspond to an exchange of products, but rather to a transfer of technology, and summarizes the nature of this technology and the main activities related to it.