19:17 Jul 12, 2011 

Thanks for the words of encouragement! The whole essay is full of phrases like the ones I'm asking about on Kudos - interesting but definitely a constant and time-consuming conundrum!!

19:15 Jul 12, 2011 

Thanks - in that case I might go for cc in nyc's suggestion of catalyst, which I thought was good anyway. It gets at least some idea of movement in there.

18:31 Jul 12, 2011 

I don't have an answer, either, but I truly wish more of my working time were spent working on this type of translation conundrum-- it's almost a koan for translators! One of the greatest things about Kudoz is stumbling across things I probably wouldn't have on my own... in this case, the work of Chema Madoz. Your text sounds very interesting and I think the rest of your translated sentence sounds great.

16:45 Jul 12, 2011 

I don't have an answer for you, but 'ferment' implies 'agitation', 'excitement' so I think you have to convey something of that (rather than 'basis' which is far too neutral). Maybe something along the lines of 'turmoil', 'upheaval' etc....?