The power of translation

“The Power of Translation” examines the language phenomenon of translation in the context of power relations and the transcendence of power relations. The thesis of the article can be summarized in point form:

*Translation is a player in the power structure of human relating from which it cannot be extracted and based on an objective and purely translative ground.

*Translation, as much as language itself, is a force which results in separation, not in connection. At the same time, the ‘tools’ (technology, translation, language, eros) which separate us become connective where they retain the capacity of self-subversion and dialogue.

*Subsequent to this dynamic, we discern the colonizing and eschatological plot inherent in translation. Translation is an ‘open’ phenomenon, always engaged in creating structures which are both oppressive and liberating. It is this openness which constitutes the power of translation.