A Bourdieuan Analysis of Toledo School and Gerard of Cremona

Abstract

Using the Bourdieuan thinking tools to analyze a historically important translation movement and its leading translator might demonstrate how a field creates the necessary environment for such a period of intense translation activity and how a person comes to be a leading figure in this movement. This paper discusses the Toledo Translation School and Gerard of Cremona from a sociological perspective by collecting data from biographies, articles and books about the era and Gerard himself. The results show that Gerard, educating himself on the limited knowledge that his hometown could offer, comes to Toledo in order to accumulate more cultural capital. In Toledo, the conditions of the field form the necessary environment that a translation movement requires. Through his habitus and cultural, symbolic and social capitals, Gerard came to the forefront of this movement. Furthermore, his high cultural capitals earn a scarcity value, which contributes to make him a dominant figure in his field. This analysis demonstrates that a sociological perspective to translation history can reveal more about the background of translation movements and prominent translators involved in them.