TRST 60010: Theory of Translation and Interpreting Week 9- Post-colonial approaches to translation Institute for Applied Linguistics (Translation) Modern and Classical Language Studies Kent State University- Fall 2007 Erik Angelone

Focus of post-colonialist approaches Post-colonialist approaches  focus on how translations affect and are affected by the asymmetrical power relations between different languages/cultures (initially “first-world” and “third- world” countries)—inequalities in terms of military might, economic advantage, and knowledge  What does the concept of asymmetrical power relations imply? What factors create asymmetry in addition to those mentioned above?  to a large extent, post colonial theorists are sceptical of globalism trends. What are your opinions on the interrelationship between translation as language and cultural mediation and the “global village”?  post-colonialism is not to be strictly understood at the nation level. Its scope extends far beyond analysis of colonizing vs. colonized power relations; however, this is a starting point  asymmetrical power relations tend to go hand in hand with linguistic and cultural distortion = based not so much on adhering to TL and TC conventions, but rather POWER relations = dominant vs. supressed  What is implied when theorists say that colonialism in the traditional sense of the term need not have taken place in the framework of post colonialist analysis?

Expanding the notion of post-colonialism Post-colonialist approaches also examine:  translation of dialects (sociolects, idiolects) vs. “standard” language  encoding of cultural identity in situations of diaspora diaspora = migration away from an established homeland  microculture vs. macroculture relationships  any situation involving hegemonic forces vs. supressed “voices” hegemony = force and influence utilized by a dominant group

Translation as facilitating colonization and oppression  theorists stress that translations are not ‘transparent windows’ that facilitate cross-cultural understanding, but rather play an active role in colonization by repressing cultural difference, imposing hegemonic cultural values in the process = colonial violence  Where is the line drawn between a fully target culture-driven, communicative translation and colonial violence? Discuss in groups.  as activists, translators have the power to manipulate readers to achieve desired effects (Tymoczko and Gentzler 2002) = either promote or attack hegemony = are interventionalists  What do you think? Do translators have the power to maintain or resist hegemony? Why or why not and how? Discuss in groups.  translations are a primary tool used by educational systems, arts councils, publishers, churches and governments to construct the kind of culture desired (Tymoczko and Gentzler 2002)  Can you think of examples of this?  religious “missions”, even books for reading in school, national advertising campaigns, etc.

Translation as facilitating colonization and oppression  “domesticating translation … is a primary tool of empire insofar as it encourages colonial powers (or more generally the ‘stronger’ or ‘hegemonic’ cultures) to translate foreign texts into their own terms, thus eradicating cultural differences and creating a buffer zone of assimilated ‘sameness’ around them” (Robinson 1997b, 109).  Are there situations where domestication in translation does not equate with hegemonical practices?  What does Robinson imply with this notion of “sameness”? Some trends suggesting translation encourages hegemony (Jacquemond 1992) : 1. “A hegemonic culture will only translate those works by authors in a dominated culture that fit the former’s preconceived notions of the latter”  Example = Japanese culture from a Western perspective = a place of mysticism, martial arts, and ruthless business dealings  books selected for translation will be judged based on focusing on these stereotypes  Can you think of additional examples of translations where this is the case?

Translation as facilitating colonization and oppression 2. “Authors in a dominated culture who dream of reaching a “large audience” will tend to write for translation into a hegemonic language, and this will require conforming to some extent to stereotypes.” An analytic approach for assessing hegemonic influence:  identify what parts of the ST and the source culture have been omitted and to consider the reasons. Note any silencing of “the remainder”  in other words, what accounts for adaptation, modulation, transposition, omission, etc.

Translation after the collapse of colonialism  “counter-translations” are “translations which by their choice of object and manner of translation shift attention away from the colonial legacy” (Simon 2000)  these translations don’t necessarily elevate the voice of the colonized or oppressed, but rather, by way of their components, break down the previously existing hierarchies maintained through colonialism.  What exactly does this imply? How is this skopos reached? Discuss in groups.  counter-translations attempt to access the power and authority of the SL and SC while SIMULTANEOUSLY asserting that of the TL and TC Brazilian cannibalist movement (de Campos brothers)  the colonized people devour “what is offered to them by their colonizers but they do not swallow it whole: quite the opposite, they spit out what is noxious to them, but what they keep they make wholly theirs by altering and changing it to suit their nutritional needs” (Barbosa and Wyler 1998)  cannibalism “should not be interpreted as a mutilation of the original, but in the sense of capturing and assimilating to show respect and absorb the virtues of the original” (Davies 2004)  How does this relate to our discussions of feminist and gender-neutral approaches to translation from last week? Discuss in groups.

Translation as facilitating “decolonization”  post-colonial translators often strive for a sense of hybridity = incorporation of both colonizing and colonized voices  this can be done by mixing “vocabularies and knowledge categories generally kept separate” (during eras of colonialism) (Simon 2000)  What do you think of this approach? Discuss in groups.  translation no longer bridges a gap between two different cultures, but becomes a strategy of intervention through which newness comes into the world, where cultures are remixed.  What does “newness” imply? Can you think of situations or examples where newness has given rise to “new” cultural identities?

Some criticisms of post-colonialist theories  Although postcolonial translators adopt the perspective of the minority culture, they are just as political and manipulative as colonizing translators (Munday 2001)  Focuses too much on the Europe/colony dichotomy and neglects ‘internal colonialism’ within Europe itself (e.g., England/Ireland) (Cronin)  What else do you remain sceptical about? Wrapping up the theory segment:  because of the range of texts and modes of procedure, translators need a pluralistic approach rather than a monistic approach of theoretical singularism  take into account the features emphasized by the various theories— linguistic (e.g., semantics, pragmatics, and applied and contrastive linguistics), interpretive (communicative), cultural, functional, textual, etc.  Need a balance between detailed micro-level linguistic approaches and broader approaches that also account for cultural and ideological concerns

Questions or comments? Homework for week 10:  Quiz 8, posted by tomorrow evening  Continue working on written assignment 2  Read week 10 handout = posted by Saturday evening  Find a translation review for a literary work translated from English into your language track. Use the resources mentioned in the Research and Writing course to find these reviews. Bring the review to class and be prepared to discuss the characteristics and parameters of translation criticism.