Tamara de Ines Anton | The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica (original) (raw)
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Thesis Chapters by Tamara de Ines Anton
At a time when scholars have rekindled the old debate about what is world literature and how can... more At a time when scholars have rekindled the old debate about what is world literature and
how can one study it (Casanova, 2004; Moretti, 2000, 2003; Damrosch, 2003, 2009), this
thesis analyses the canonisation of Central American Revolutionary women’s writing as
it moves toward the ‘centre’ and becomes part of the world literary canon. Drawing on a
core-periphery systemic model, this thesis examines how translation for the Anglophone
market involves the marginalisation at various levels of the narratives of political
radicalism and the erotic that feature in the life writing works of Gioconda Belli, Claribel
Alegría and Rigoberta Menchú. The dataset chosen for this study consists of the Spanish
originals and English translations of La mujer habitada (1988) and El país bajo mi piel
(2001) by Belli; No me agarran viva (1983) and Luisa en el país de la realidad (1987)
by Alegría, in collaboration with her husband Darwin J. Flakoll; and Me llamo Rigoberta
Menchú (1983) and Rigoberta: La nieta de los mayas (1998) by Menchú.
To develop this core-periphery systemic model, I have drawn on the work of
scholars in the field of the sociology of translation such as Pascale Casanova (2004),
Johan Heilbron (1999, 2010) and Gisèle Sapiro (2008). In the context of the study,
peripheralisation has been reconceptualised to assist in locating the texts included in the
dataset within a hierarchical power structure (external level of peripheralisation); and
identifying the shifts that arise during the translation and circulation of the ontological
and public narratives underpinning such texts (internal level of peripheralisation).
The study of the internal level of peripheralisation will draw on narrative theory,
as elaborated by Margaret Somers and Gloria Gibson (1994), Somers (1997) and Mona
Baker (2006). The choice of narrative theory employed in the thesis aims to foreground
the impact that translation and the publishing field have on the selection and consecration
of a literary genre; facilitate the comparison between the texts and paratexts of the
originals and their English translations, and disclose the mechanisms through which the
agency of the woman/author is neutralised, and the narratives of sexuality, body, political
radicalism and feminine subjectivity are constructed in the original and reinterpreted
through translation.
This comparative (para)textual analysis questions the nature of the process by
which peripheral texts have accessed the Western canon. In light of the findings, the
thesis advocates the need to redefine the concept of canonisation in order to acknowledge
a possible conflict between the new assumed centrality of the consecrated/translated text
and the layers of peripheralisation that might still be constraining the original narratives.
Secondly, these findings draw attention to a gap in world literatures scholarship. By
assuming the autonomy of literature as an artistic form, world literature scholars might
be in danger of obscuring the potential for manipulation inherent in translation practice,
particularly in spaces favouring domesticating approaches to translation. Thirdly, this
work aims to serve as a reminder to scholars and activists not to overlook the impact of
literary translation on the circulation of theories and narratives, particularly in the case of
highly canonical texts such as that of Rigoberta Menchú (1984)
Papers by Tamara de Ines Anton
UWI Quality Education Forum, 2021
Due to recent changes in the translation industry, our understanding of translator competence (Ki... more Due to recent changes in the translation industry, our understanding of translator competence (Kiraly 2000) has evolved to feature more prominently the translator's ability to effectively use new technologies. Against this background and from the early 2000s, scholarship in the teaching of translation (Samson 2013; Gouadec 2003; Kiraly 2000) has highlighted the need to include information and communication technologies (ICT) and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools as part of translation curricula. At our institution, a decision was made to move the two foundational courses in the MA in Translation (French/Spanish) to online delivery, starting September 2019. This paper describes how course content and assessment were restructured to account for recent developments in the pedagogy of the discipline as well as the new virtual environment, and to highlight the training potential of CAT and online tools. Moreover, it assesses the researcher's e-teaching experiences with regard to the impact that emphasising translation technologies in a virtual environment had in the programme.
The UWI Quality Education Forum, 2020
Previous research within academic literacies has established that "disciplinary discourses are hi... more Previous research within academic literacies has established that "disciplinary discourses are historically situated and contested(able)" (Lillis and Tuck 2016, 33), thus challenging unitary notions of academic writing, and opening the door to new pedagogical approaches to support higher education students through this challenge. In this context, this paper suggests the significance of translation literacy, which is understood here as an academic skill, a language and culture awareness learning process, and a discourse practice essential to the international higher education context as a whole, and the multilingual Caribbean region in particular. This paper argues that translation literacy allows the student to better recognise the specificities of different textual genres, and to understand disciplinary discourses as historically, culturally and linguistically situated, raising the students' intercultural awareness in a multilingual world at large.
At a time when scholars have rekindled the old debate about what is world literature and how can... more At a time when scholars have rekindled the old debate about what is world literature and
how can one study it (Casanova, 2004; Moretti, 2000, 2003; Damrosch, 2003, 2009), this
thesis analyses the canonisation of Central American Revolutionary women’s writing as
it moves toward the ‘centre’ and becomes part of the world literary canon. Drawing on a
core-periphery systemic model, this thesis examines how translation for the Anglophone
market involves the marginalisation at various levels of the narratives of political
radicalism and the erotic that feature in the life writing works of Gioconda Belli, Claribel
Alegría and Rigoberta Menchú. The dataset chosen for this study consists of the Spanish
originals and English translations of La mujer habitada (1988) and El país bajo mi piel
(2001) by Belli; No me agarran viva (1983) and Luisa en el país de la realidad (1987)
by Alegría, in collaboration with her husband Darwin J. Flakoll; and Me llamo Rigoberta
Menchú (1983) and Rigoberta: La nieta de los mayas (1998) by Menchú.
To develop this core-periphery systemic model, I have drawn on the work of
scholars in the field of the sociology of translation such as Pascale Casanova (2004),
Johan Heilbron (1999, 2010) and Gisèle Sapiro (2008). In the context of the study,
peripheralisation has been reconceptualised to assist in locating the texts included in the
dataset within a hierarchical power structure (external level of peripheralisation); and
identifying the shifts that arise during the translation and circulation of the ontological
and public narratives underpinning such texts (internal level of peripheralisation).
The study of the internal level of peripheralisation will draw on narrative theory,
as elaborated by Margaret Somers and Gloria Gibson (1994), Somers (1997) and Mona
Baker (2006). The choice of narrative theory employed in the thesis aims to foreground
the impact that translation and the publishing field have on the selection and consecration
of a literary genre; facilitate the comparison between the texts and paratexts of the
originals and their English translations, and disclose the mechanisms through which the
agency of the woman/author is neutralised, and the narratives of sexuality, body, political
radicalism and feminine subjectivity are constructed in the original and reinterpreted
through translation.
This comparative (para)textual analysis questions the nature of the process by
which peripheral texts have accessed the Western canon. In light of the findings, the
thesis advocates the need to redefine the concept of canonisation in order to acknowledge
a possible conflict between the new assumed centrality of the consecrated/translated text
and the layers of peripheralisation that might still be constraining the original narratives.
Secondly, these findings draw attention to a gap in world literatures scholarship. By
assuming the autonomy of literature as an artistic form, world literature scholars might
be in danger of obscuring the potential for manipulation inherent in translation practice,
particularly in spaces favouring domesticating approaches to translation. Thirdly, this
work aims to serve as a reminder to scholars and activists not to overlook the impact of
literary translation on the circulation of theories and narratives, particularly in the case of
highly canonical texts such as that of Rigoberta Menchú (1984)
UWI Quality Education Forum, 2021
Due to recent changes in the translation industry, our understanding of translator competence (Ki... more Due to recent changes in the translation industry, our understanding of translator competence (Kiraly 2000) has evolved to feature more prominently the translator's ability to effectively use new technologies. Against this background and from the early 2000s, scholarship in the teaching of translation (Samson 2013; Gouadec 2003; Kiraly 2000) has highlighted the need to include information and communication technologies (ICT) and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools as part of translation curricula. At our institution, a decision was made to move the two foundational courses in the MA in Translation (French/Spanish) to online delivery, starting September 2019. This paper describes how course content and assessment were restructured to account for recent developments in the pedagogy of the discipline as well as the new virtual environment, and to highlight the training potential of CAT and online tools. Moreover, it assesses the researcher's e-teaching experiences with regard to the impact that emphasising translation technologies in a virtual environment had in the programme.
The UWI Quality Education Forum, 2020
Previous research within academic literacies has established that "disciplinary discourses are hi... more Previous research within academic literacies has established that "disciplinary discourses are historically situated and contested(able)" (Lillis and Tuck 2016, 33), thus challenging unitary notions of academic writing, and opening the door to new pedagogical approaches to support higher education students through this challenge. In this context, this paper suggests the significance of translation literacy, which is understood here as an academic skill, a language and culture awareness learning process, and a discourse practice essential to the international higher education context as a whole, and the multilingual Caribbean region in particular. This paper argues that translation literacy allows the student to better recognise the specificities of different textual genres, and to understand disciplinary discourses as historically, culturally and linguistically situated, raising the students' intercultural awareness in a multilingual world at large.