ANTHONY PYM INCULTURATION AND ITS ALTERNATIVES

© Intercultural Studies Group A trainer of translators and interpreters In societies that need them for governance. And you might need them we you: Are arrested abroad Are assessing the qualifications of foreigners Want to know what Orhan Pamuk is writing about. WHERE I SPEAK FROM

© Intercultural Studies Group From attempts to do the sociology of translators (Renn, Latour, Callon, Law) From social contexts for which we train (immigrant contexts and postcolonial discourse) From cultural studies as a catch-all frame for critical discourse. From occasional consultations. New uses OF “TRANSLATION”

© Intercultural Studies Group The social contract is only a particular instance of the more general phenomenon known as translation. By “translation” we mean the set of negotiations, intrigues, acts of persuasion, calculations, acts of violence by which an actor or a force accords or allows itself to be accorded the authority to speak or to act in the name of another actor or force: “your interests are our interests,” “do what I want,” “you cannot succeed without me. ” As soon as an actor says “we,” he or she translates other actors into a single aspiration [volonté] of which she or he becomes the master or spokesperson. (Callon and Latour 1981/2006: ; my translation) Callon and latour’s sociology

© Intercultural Studies Group Bruno Latour (1984/1988: 167), “[n]othing is, by itself, either knowable or unknowable, sayable or unsayable, near or far. Everything is translated.” Everything is everything. Callon and latour’s sociology

© Intercultural Studies Group Beck, Ulrich. 2004/2006. The cosmopolitan vision Against the national fallacy zombie sociology Non-interventionism:. ULRICH BECK’s cosmopolitanism

© Intercultural Studies Group “The desire for a quiet life is justified with the argument that the chasms between cultures are too wide to be bridged. This may be tendentious and false as regards the motivation for relativism. But the incommensurability assumption amounts to a non-intervention pact between cultures that can easily degenerate into violence is a world where non-intervention is impossible because intervention has always been the norm. (2004/2006: 55 ULRICH BECK’s cosmopolitanism

© Intercultural Studies Group Cosmopolitan competence, as a fact of everyday and scientific experience, forces us to develop the art of translation and bridge-building. This involves two things: on the one hand, situating and revitalizing one’s own form of life with other horizons of possibility; on the other, the capacity to see oneself from the perspective of cultural others and to give this practical effect in one’s own experience through the exercise of boundary-transcending imagination. (2004/2006: 89) Cf. Ricoeur ULRICH BECK’s cosmopolitanism

© Intercultural Studies Group Who has this competence? How did they get it? Do whole societies have it? Is everyone a translator? Policymakers at the top, and illegal immigrants at the bottom…? Why so much incompetent intervention? ULRICH BECK’s cosmopolitanism

© Intercultural Studies Group this is discussed along the lines of the logic of translation, here understood as cultural translation. It is the nature of translation that the very terms of the translation are altered in the process of translation and something new is created. Delanty, Gerard. The cosmopolitan imagination. The renewal of critical Social Theory (2006) GERARD DELANTY

© Intercultural Studies Group Translation was once a means to communication and to render another culture intelligible, but with the advent of modernity translation became a cultural form in itself and can be understood as a paradigmatic third culture. With the principle that every culture can translate itself and others, came the possibility of incorporating the perspective of the Other into one’s own culture. (13) GERARD DELANTY

© Intercultural Studies Group Cultural translation is a process of mutations, transferences, innovations, appropriations, borrowings, re-combinations and substitution. It concerns the symbolic and cognitive processes by which cultural aspects of a given collective identity are appropriated by a different one, which will variously adapt, transfigure it, subvert it. (196) GERARD DELANTY

© Intercultural Studies Group “Translation” is being used to transcend the national boundary even while recognizing it. Like “iteration” in the cosmopolitan vision of Seyla Benhabib (Another Cosmopolitanism, 2006) Who does all these things? Who controls it? In the theories, it just happens” (even when they say they are doing sociology… devoid of people). PROLEMS WITH THIS

© Intercultural Studies Group And thus every translator is to be considered a middle-man (Vermittler) in this universal spiritual commerce, and as making it his business to promote this exchange: for say what we may about the insufficiency of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest affairs in the general concerns of the world. The Koran says, “God has given to each people a prophet in his own tongue!” Thus each translator is a prophet to his people. […] What indeed is the whole enormous business ( das ganze ungeheure Geschäfft) of the Bible Society, but to make known the Gospel to all people in their own tongue? (Letter to Carlyle, July 20, 1827/1887: 19, 26) GOETHE 1827

© Intercultural Studies Group And when I had preached to the Mexicans in their language (which is the most generally known) he entered, dressed in rochet or surplice, and preached to the barbarians [Amerindians who speak another language] in their language, saying what I had said to the Mexicans, and doing so with such authority, energy, exclamation, and spirit that I became quite jealous of the divine assistance that God had communicated to him. Fray gerónimo Mendieta C. 1550

© Intercultural Studies Group INCULTURATION

© Intercultural Studies Group INCULTURATION

© Intercultural Studies Group “the incarnation of the Gospel in autonomous cultures and at the same time the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church” (John Paul II, Slavorum Apostoli 1985) “Through inculturation the Church makes the Gospel incarnate in different cultures and at the same time introduces peoples, together with their cultures, into her own community.” (John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio 1990) INCULTURATION

© Intercultural Studies Group The people of Israel throughout its history preserved the certain knowledge that it was the chosen people of God, the witness of his action and love in the midst of the nations. It took from neighboring peoples certain forms of worship, but its faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob subjected these borrowings to profound modifications [...].The encounter between the Jewish world and Greek wisdom gave rise to a new form of inculturation: the translation of the Bible into Greek introduced the word of God into a world that had been closed to it and caused, under divine inspiration, an enrichment of the Scriptures. (Varietates Legitimae 1994) INCULTURATION 1994

© Intercultural Studies Group “The work of inculturation, of which the translation into vernacular languages is a part, is not therefore to be considered an avenue for the creation of new varieties or families of rites; on the contrary, it should be recognized that any adaptations introduced out of cultural or pastoral necessity thereby become part of the Roman Rite, and are to be inserted into it in a harmonious way.” (Liturgiam authenticam 2001: 5) INCULTURATION 2001

© Intercultural Studies Group

-Learns from Mao: -Influence the common people. -Learns from Saul of Tarsis (Philippians 4:7): -And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (King James 2000). -(  · Shall keep them as in a strong place or castle.) COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group -Once the unit settles into the AO, its next task is to build trusted networks. This is the true meaning of the phrase “hearts and minds,” which comprises two separate components. “Hearts” means persuading people that their best interests are served by COIN [counterinsurgency] success. “Minds” means convincing them that the force can protect them and that resisting it is pointless. -Note that neither concerns whether people like Soldiers and Marines. Calculated self-interest, not emotion, is what counts. Over time, successful trusted networks grow like roots into the populace. They displace enemy networks, which forces enemies into the open, letting military forces seize the initiative and destroy the insurgents. (2006: A5) - COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group Cultural knowledge is essential to waging a successful counterinsurgency. American ideas of what is “normal” or “rational” are not universal. To the contrary, members of other societies often have different notions of rationality, appropriate behavior, level of religious devotion, and norms concerning gender. Thus, what may appear abnormal or strange to an external observer may appear as self-evidently normal to a group member. For this reason, counterinsurgents—especially commanders, planners, and small-unit leaders—should strive to avoid imposing their ideals of normalcy on a foreign cultural problem. (1-80) - COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group insurgents hold a distinct advantage in their level of local knowledge. They speak the language, move easily within the society, and are more likely to understand the population’s interests. Thus, effective COIN operations require a greater emphasis on certain skills, such as language and cultural understanding, than does conventional warfare. (1-125) COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group In order to evaluate the people, the following six sociocultural factors should be analyzed: Society Social structure. Culture Language Power and authority Interests. COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group When dealing with Home Nation: Experience with the HN language, the ability to learn languages, or support of reliable translators. Patience and tolerance when dealing with language and translation barriers. COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group Category I linguists usually are hired locally and require vetting. They do not have a security clearance. They are the most abundant resource pool; however, their skill level is limited. Category II linguists are U.S. citizens with a secret clearance. Often they possess good oral and written communication skills. They should be managed carefully due to limited availability. Category II linguists interpret for battalion and higher. Category III linguists are U.S. citizens with a top secret clearance. They are a scarce commodity and often retained at division and higher levels of command. They have excellent oral and written communications skills. COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group In traditional societies, women are hugely influential informing the social networks that insurgents use for support. When women support COIN efforts, families support COIN efforts. Getting the support of families is a big step toward mobilizing the local populace against the insurgency. Co-opting neutral or friendly women through targeted social and economic programs builds networks of enlightened self-interest that eventually undermine insurgents. Female counterinsurgents, including interagency people, are required to do this effectively. (A- 35) - COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group -“Lost in Translation” as a rational encounter of conflicting interests. -The theory of mutual interests must apply to the mediator as well. -The fact of irritation need not lead to non-communication – inculturation exists. COUNTERINSURGENCY

© Intercultural Studies Group -Literature as institution? -Capitalist economies? -IT? (Microsoft?) -Political modernity? -Universities? -Liberal humanism? -Translation Studies? MORE INCULTURATION?

© Intercultural Studies Group -- Multiple communication spaces -- Personal contact CONDITIONS FOR ASPIRATION?

© Intercultural Studies Group Mexican culture Science fiction (Gouanvic) The gay novel (Harvey) Translation Studies? OUT-CULTURATION?

© Intercultural Studies Group The European Court European bureaucratic prose (Agent-principle reversal) Translation Studies? META-CULTURATION?

© Intercultural Studies Group MTV culture You Tube culture Translation Studies (Leipzig, from Prague and Bratislava, from Petersburg and Moscow, from Paris and Berlin… these are not wholly foreign languages) SUB-CULTURATION?

© Intercultural Studies Group These days everyone can indeed translate. TRANSLATION IS EVERYTHING?