Assistant Professor of German and Collegiate Fellow
he/him
jchopo@umich.edu
Office Information:
MLB 3132
hours: Thursdays from 1-2 PM or by appointment
Comparative Literature;
Translation Studies;
Poetry and Poetics;
Race and Ethnicity;
Migration and Diaspora;
Colonialism and Postcolonialism;
Transnational and Global Cultures;
Travel Literature;
Mediterranean;
Central Europe;
Western Europe;
North America
Education/Degree:
Concurrent PhD in German and Medieval Studies, UC Berkeley
MA, German Studies, UC Berkeley
MA, Translation Studies, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
BA, Literature and European History, UC Santa Cruz
About
Dr. Cho-Polizzi is a translator of contemporary German literature. Both his translation work and research focus on topics of migration, diversity, and trans- and multilingualism in the German-speaking world. His book project, tentatively titled Resistance, Resilience, Representation: Unmaking the Myths of Post-Wende German Identity traces the role of translation in the intersectional networks of authors, activists, and journalists pushing to reimagine the multidirectional history of Post-Unification Germany.
Fields of Interest
- Contemporary Literature
- Literary Translation and Translation Studies
- Poetry and Poetics
- Radical Diversity
- Migration, Transnationalism, and Multiculturalism
- Trans- and Multilingualism
- Post- and Decolonial Studies
Booklength Translations
Public Humanities
- "One of the most exciting emerging voices in the German-language literary scene": my recent interview with author and journalist Lin Hierse @ New Books in German, 13 Oct, 2024
- October 1, 2024, 6:30-8:00 PM (EST): Keynote Address for receiving the 2024 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translators Prize @ Goethe-Institut New York, Manhattan, NY
- June 13, 2024 7:00-8:30 PM (CET) "#Vorzeichen: Disrupting Translation" with Dr. Thalia Ostendorf, Dr. Leila Essa, and Dr. Maha El Hissy @ Goethe Institut, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Panel discussion on translation with Mirjam Nuenning and Hadija Haruna-Oelker @ Resonanzen Festival, Recklinghausen, Germany, June 1, 2024
- "Author Meets Translator: A Conversation with Sharon Dodua Otoo and Jon Cho-Polizzi" @ poco.lit., Berlin, Germany, March 7, 2024
- Ada's Room a reading and discussion with Dr. Marie Larose and Dr. Jeaenette Oholi @ Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, VT, February 6, 2024
- "BIPOC Caucus x Asian American Writers Workshop Translation Reading" from Lin Hierse's Wovon wir träumen for the American Literary Translators' Association Conference, November 10, 2023
- "Bilingual Readings: Multigenre Potpourri Reading" from Mikael Vogel's Dodos auf der Flucht for the American Literary Translators' Association Conference, November 9, 2023
- "Communication is Part of Belonging": my recent interview with Gina Balibrera
- Editor for the open-access translation of Your Homeland is our Nightmare (Transit Journal, December 2021), edited by Fatma Aydemir and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah (Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum). This collection presents essays on community, belonging, discrimination, and the concept of homeland from a diversity of voices and positionalities spanning the contemporary German-speaking world, providing an accessible, comparative study for an English-language readership interested in transnational diversity discourse.
Upcoming Events
Catch my upcoming presentations, workshops, and writers' conversations this fall:
- October 18, 2024, 6:00-7:00 PM (CET): Versopolis Poetry Reading with Mikael Vogel @ Frankfurter Buchmesse, Frankfurt, Germany
- October 21, 2024, 4:00-6:00 PM (CST): "Djinns: A Conversation with Fatma Aydemir" @ University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
- October 24, 2024, 5:00-6:00 PM (EST): Translation workshop @ Deutsches Haus Columbia, Manhattan, NY
- October 24, 2024, 6:30-8:00 PM (EST): Conversation and bilingual reading with Fatma Aydemir @ Deutsches Haus Columbia, Manhattan, NY
- October 25, 2024, 3:30-5:00 PM (EST): Conversation and bilingual reading with Fatma Aydemir @ Mandel Reading Room 303, Mandel Center for Humanities, Brandeis University Campus, Waltham, MA
- October 26, 2024, 3:30-4:30 PM (EST): Boston Book Fair "Book Talk: Djinns" @ Goethe-Institut Boston, Boston, MA
- November 11, 2024: In conversation with Sharon Dodua Otoo @ Goethe-Institut New York, Manhattan, NY
- January 12, 2025, 8:30-8:45 (CST): "Literary Alliances, Networks, and Solidarities" @ MLA Conference, New Orleans, LA
- March 6-9, 2025 (EST): Keynote Address for Area Studies of German at NeMLA Conference, Philadelphia, PA
Recent Events
- June 18, 2024 12:30-2:00 PM (GMT): "Encounters: A Conversation with Fatma Aydemir" @ University of London, London, UK
- April 25, 2024 1:30-3:15 PM (PDT): "ALTA (German) Translation Workshop" @ ALTA, Tucson, AZ (online)
- April 17, 2024 9:30-10:30 AM (PDT): "Of Return: Literary Translation and Contemporary German Jewish Poetry" @ University of Washington, Seattle, WA (online)
- March 20, 2024: "What is the Plural Form of Djinn?" guest lecture @ University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
- March 20, 2024: "'She could do it all and still wear the same hat': A Workshop Translating Fatma Aydemir" @ University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
- March 14, 2024: "Overcoming the Present: Author and Publicist Max Czollek in Poetic Dialogue with Translator Jon Cho-Polizzi" @ Deutsches Haus, NYU, Manhattan, NY
- February 5, 2024: "Translation Masterclass" @ Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
- December 1, 2023: Poetry Translation Workshop with Ronya Othmann, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
- December 1, 2023: "'Between Them, A Staircase Without Grammatical Gender': Translation as Authorship in the Works of José F. A. Oliver", Cultures in Motion Conference, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
- November 9, 2023: "A Clean (Tran-)Slate: Research & Practice of Literary Translation Roundtable" with translator-scholars Sonia Colina, Silvia Guslandi, Patrick Ploschnitzki, Jamie Richards, Diana Thow, and others @ ALTA 46, Tucson, AZ
- October 6, 2023: "Was ist die Mehrzahl von Dschinns?" German Studies Association Conference, Montréal, Canada 10:15-12:14 pm EST
- September 6, 2023: "Positionalities: A Reading & Discussion on Translation & Representation" with Profs. Peter Höyng, Priscilla Layne, Adrienne Merritt, and Didem Uca. Making the Canon, Breaking the Canon: The Task of the Translator, Emory College, Atlanta, GA
- April 1, 2023: "Ada's Room: Author Event" with Sharon Dodua Otoo, Source Booksellers (4240 Cass Avenue, Detroit), 2-4 pm EST
- March 31, 2023: "Ada's Room: Realms in Translation" with Sharon Dodua Otoo, @ 2210ABC Michigan Union (second floor), 2-4 pm EST
- Book Tour for De-Integrate: A Jewish Survival Guide for the 21st Century with Dr. Max Czollek
- January 12, 2023: "Paranoid Poetics: Excavating a Language of Gegenwartsbewältigung" with Dr. Max Czollek, 3308 MLB, 2:30-4 pm EST
- September 27, 2022: "Translating Adas Raum," Ziegler Lecture Series at the University of British Columbia, 12:30 pm PST (3:30 pm EST)
- September 20, 2022: Introducing "Revenge: Fantasy and Self Determination in Jewish Discourse" by Dr. Max Czollek, 2435 North Quad, 5-7 pm EST
Recent and Pending Publications
- "Dreaming Is Free: A Reflection on Asian German Translation and Translators’ Introduction to Lin Hierse’s Wovon wir träumen" co-authored with Elizabeth Sun in Anti-Asian Racism in Transatlantic Perspectives: History, Theory, Cultural Representations and Social Movements (transcript Verlag, forthcoming 2025)
- "'Between Them, a Staircase without Grammatical Gender': Translation as Authorship in the Works of José F. A. Oliver" in Cultures in Motion: Migration, Exile, and Refuge (De Gruyter, forthcoming 2025)
- "Was ist die Mehrzahl von Dschinns?: Translating the Transnational" in Companion to Turkish German Literature (De Gruyter, forthcoming 2025)
- "Translating the Archive: An Introduction to the Translation of 'The Archive of Migration' by Deniz Utlu" in Companion to Turkish German Literature (De Gruyter, forthcoming 2025)
- "Between the Orbits: Translating Adas Raum" in German Life and Letters: Special Issue on Sharon Dodua Otoo, vol 77.1 (January 2024)
- "Almanya: A [Different] Future is Possible" in TRANSIT Journal 13.2, July 19, 2022
Recent Awards and Distinctions
