COLT 19.06 Decolonizing Translation
The course takes a panoramic view of translation as an ambivalent reflection of the (post)colonial condition. As a “channel of colonization,” translation has relied on legal and linguistic manipulations and prohibitions to unleash epistemicide and linguicide. As a form of resistance, translation has channeled emancipatory postcolonial struggles. In this course, we will survey both functions between the 18th to the early 21st century. We will draw on case studies from around the globe, including the Middle East, South, Southeast and Western Asia, South and Central America, Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean, as well as North America, Europe and Eurasia. We’ll revisit the relationship between translation, orientalism, world literature, have a closer look at border identities across geographical regions and historical circumstances, reconsider translational imagination and the art of self-translation, and reflect on the gains, loses, misses, and un/translatables in translation.
Instructor
Kolomiyets