Chapter 8
The notion of translation in the Arab world
A critical developmental perspective
After synthesizing the notion of translation as reflected during the two major historical translation movements (medieval and (post)colonial), this chapter is conceived as a critical reflection on the contemporary intellectual and cultural developments of the Arab world as it unfolds within the dynamics of its historicity. While taking stock of the 9th–11th centuries’ glories when a wealth of the Greek was translated into Arabic and later transmitted to Europe through Latin, this chapter aims to tackle the contemporary effects of the (post)colonial period on today’s shaping of the notion of translation and its future perspectives as a probable key civilizational development factor in the positioning of the Arab culture in a globalized world dominated by English. The objective of this chapter is then to outline a more encompassing understanding of translation in the perspective of the relation to the Other, and the reasons behind the critical character of translation for the development and long-awaited renaissance of the Arab world.
Article outline
- Preamble
- 1.Introduction
- 2.A heavy historical heritage
- 2.1The rise of the Arab Self
- 2.2The surrender of the Arab Self
- 3.Desalinating the Arab Self
- 3.1Translating revolution
- 3.2Assessing the Arab Human Development
- 3.3Reclaiming difference
- 4.Conclusion
-
Note
-
References
References
Abderrahmane, Taha
1994 Tagdid al-manhaj fi taqwim al-turath [
Renewing the Method of Assessing Tradition]. Casablanca-Beirut, al-Markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi.
Abderrahmane, Taha
2002 Al-Haqq al-arabi fi l-ikhtilaf al-falsafi [
The Arab Right to Philosophical Difference]. Casablanca and Beirut, al-Markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi.
Abderrahmane, Taha
2006 “
Hawas al-tarjamah al-ibda’yyah” [The Obsession of Creative Translation]. Interview available at:
[URL]
Abderrahmane, Taha
2011 Hiwarat min ajl al-mustaqbal [
Dialogues for the future]. Beirut: Arab Network for Research and Publishing.
Al-Hamad, Mohammad
2001 Hiwar al-umam tarikh al-tarjama wa-al-ibda inda al- Arab wa-al-Suryan [
The Dialogue of Nations. The History of Translation and Creativity Among the Arabs and the Syrians]. Beirut: Dar al-Mada.
Al-Jahiz
1996 Kitab al-Hayawan. [
The Book of Animals]. Ed.
Abdussalam Muhammad Harun. Beirut: Dar al-Jil.
Al-Khalili, Jim
2010 The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance. London: Penguin Books.
Al-Shayyal, Jamaleddin
1951 Tarikh al-tarjamah wa l-harakah al-thaqafiyyah fi ‘asr Muhammad Ali [
The History of Translation and the Cultural Movement under Muhammad Ali]. Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi.
Arab Human Development Report/AHDR
2002 Creating Opportunities for Future Generations. UNDP Publications. Available at:
[URL]
Arab Human Development Report
2003 Building a Knowledge Society. UNDP Publications. Available at:
[URL]
Arab Knowledge Report/AKR
2009 Towards Productive Intercommunication for Knowledge. Published by UNDP & MBRF. Available at:
[URL]
Arab Knowledge Report
2014 Youth and Localisation of Knowledge. Published by UNDP & MBRF. Available:
[URL]
Baker, Mona
(ed.) 2016a Translating Dissent: Voices From and With the Egyptian Revolution. (
Critical Perspectives on Citizen Media). London/New York: Routledge.
Baker, Mona
2016b “
Beyond the Spectacle. Translation and Solidarity in Contemporary Protest Movements.” In
Baker, Mona (ed.): 1–18.
Berman, Antoine
1992 The Experience of the Foreign. Culture and Translation in Romantic Germany. Translated by
S. Heyvaert. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Casanova, Pascale
2004 The World Republic of Letters. Translated by
M. B. DeBevoise. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
El-Tamami, Wiam
2016 “
I wish not to betray. Some thoughts on writing and translating revolution.” In
Baker, Mona (ed.) 21–32.
Gütas, Dimitri
1998 Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society (5th-10th c.). London/New York: Routledge..
Hashas, Mohammed
2015 “
Taha Abderrahmane’s Trusteeship Paradigm. Spiritual Modernity and the Islamic Contribution to the Formation of a Renewed Universal Civilization of Ethos.”
Oriente Moderno, 95, 67–105.
Healey, John F.
2006 “
The Syriac-speaking Christians and the Translation of Greek Science into Arabic.” Available at:
[URL] (accessed on October 30, 2015).
Heyworth-Dune, James
1940 “
Printing and Translations under Muhammad ’Ali of Egypt”.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 325–249.
Kennedy, Hugh
2004 When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World. The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
Kilito, Abdelfattah
2008 Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language. Trans. and intro. by
Waïl S. Hassan. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Montgomery, Scott L.
2000 Science in Translation. Movements of Knowledge Through Culture and Time. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Ricœur, Paul
2006 On translation. Translated by
E. Brennan. London/New York: Routledge.
Salama-Carr, Myriam
1990 La traduction à l’époque Abbaside. Paris: Didier Éruditions.
Selim, Samah
2016 “
Text and Context. Translating in a State of Emergency.” In
Baker, Mona (ed.) 77–87.
Tageldin, Shaden M.
2011 Disarming Words. Empire and the Seductions of Translation in Egypt. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Venuti, Lawrence
1995/2008 The Invisibility of the Translator. London/New York: Routledge.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Aly, El-Hussein A Y
2023.
The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement,
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.