ETHICAL ISSUES IN ACTIVIST TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism
Routledge, 2020
In the book chapter, I explored the Chinese translator Lu Xun from the narrative theory. His translation activities and his concept of ‘hard translation’ were investigated to define him as an activist translator.
Translation In and For Society: Sociological and Cultural Approaches in Translation , 2019
New approaches in Translation Studies (TS), translation technology along with such means/modes of communication as New Media have brought about the necessity for the Translation Studies researcher to re-address key concepts of the field, from a broader and multidisciplinary perspective. The present paper aims at following such an understanding of TS research, whereby the concepts of “translation”, “translation criticism”, “translation ethics” and “(re)narration” are scrutinized with respect to the ways they can be instrumentalized while addressing Activist Translation Blogging platforms as actors of Translation Criticism in a globalized and constantly globalizing era. Setting out with a theoretical framework consisting Mona Baker’s notion of “narrative approach to translation” (Baker, 2005; Baker, 2006), Maria Tymoczko’s notions of “translation ethics” and “globalization” (Tymoczko, 2009) and Michael Cronin’s elaborations on the relation between “translation” and “globalization” (Cronin, 2003), this paper argues that the agency of activist translation bloggers exceeds mere mediation, transfer or communication, and is characterized by critical and ethical translational “actions”. Based on Maria Tymoczko’s remarks on the requirement of “complex ethical thinking” when translation in a globalized context is in question (Tymoczko, 2009), and her assertion that “activist translations are performatives” (Tymoczko, 2010), I will argue that the performance of the activist translation blogger is a critical one, providing a “re-narration” of the present and (oftentimes) attempting to deconstruct globalized/globalizing discourses across power differentials. In this vein, addressed as a performance based on a critical/ethical approach to reproduction of globalized and mainstream discourses via translations, activist translation blogging will be discussed and illustrated with a special focus on Translate for Justice (tfj), an activist translation blog, and the ways they are deconstructing globalizing discourses by means of their activist translation actions and performances will be analyzed.
Translation, Manipulation and Social Movement
Whether in the least developed countries or most developed ones, social media activists are opinion leaders who could change or deepen certain mindsets among the public and particularly the youth at times of conflict. Together with politicians, they have the ability to manipulate the 'truth', thus follow certain editorial policies and shape the current agenda and narrative, perhaps even more than scholars do. Therefore, it is natural and necessary that they are included at policy debates at local, national and international levels. This article makes an effort to show that in addition to journalists and editors, translators (and interpreters) can further play their part. From a social perspective, translation constitutes a site where translators can exercise manipulation that conforms to editorial policies and in this sense provides a tool for resolving the state of tension and conflict rather than mere exchange of texts and narratives. For this purpose, Baker's four 'reframing' strategies within a narrative framework are drawn on as the analytical tool. The data for the study is a political text narrating the conflict over Iran's nuclear program. The results of the analysis reemphasize that translation, 'constitutes' a different set of values and presents a different image of the 'story' from that of the original. This can be considered as a novel way of social movement; by the same account, the time-of-conflict translator-redefined as a social actor-resists neutrality and works to reconstruct the constructed 'reality'. This privileged role naturally brings with it moral responsibilities.
This article examines the genesis, dynamics and positioning of activist groups of translators and interpreters who engage in various forms of collective action. The activism of these groups is distinctive in that they use their linguistic skills to extend narrative space and empower voices made invisible by the global power of English and the politics of language. They further recognise that language and translation themselves constitute a space of resistance, a means of reversing the symbolic order. Their use of hybrid language, their deliberate downgrading of English, the constant shuffling of the order and space allocated to different languages on their websites-all this is as much part of their political agenda as their linguistic mediation of texts and utterances produced by others, in their capacity as translators and interpreters. The article examines the positioning of these groups vis-à-vis what Tarrow (2006, p. 16) terms 'the new generation of global justice activists' on the one hand, and professional translators and interpreters on the other, and argues that they occupy a 'liminal' space between the world of activism and the service economy.
Social Movements and Translation
The Politics of Translation in International RelationsThe Politics of Translation in International Relations (Palgrave Studies in International Relations) 1st ed. 2021 Edition by Zeynep Gulsah Capan (Editor), Filipe dos Reis (Editor), Maj Grasten (Editor) , 2021
Routledge Handbook of Translation and Politics edited by Jonathan Evans and Fruela Fernandez . Routledge., 2018
Translation's democratizing potential has been studied by students of comparative literature, social movements, and transnational democracy, but it has received less attention in political theories of democracy. In this contribution, I give a survey of theories of translation and democratic dialogue drawing on comparative literature, sociology, feminism, psychology, and on the philosophy of language, culture, and theories of political participation and social movements.