Chapter published in:
A World Atlas of Translation
Edited by Yves Gambier and Ubaldo Stecconi
[Benjamins Translation Library 145] 2019
► pp. 443–464

Chapter 21
Translation and North America

A reframing

In this entry of the Atlas we discuss the experience of translation in the territories known as Canada and the United States. Our starting point to study the relationships between translation and these territories is a critical reframing. After establishing the conceptual and methodological ground for our discussion, we present translation in these two North American countries as an ongoing historical experience from various perspectives including colonization, nation-building, imperialism, border and migration, and intellectual and literary life. We address the similarities and differences between Canada and the United States as they relate to specific historical processes. We then discuss translation’s scholarly narratives as they have emerged and circulated in North America, and close with a reflection on some future implications of our proposed reframing – an attempt to provincialize North America – for translation studies as a program.

Keywords: Canada, United States, translation history, conquest, nation-building, colonization, imperialism, nation-building, literary translation, translation studies
Article outline
  • 1.Framing translation and “North America”
  • 2.Translation and conquest in America’s North
  • 3.Translation, nation-building, language policies
  • 4.Moving the territory beyond: Translation and imperialism
  • 5.Border, language, and migration
  • 6.Translation and intellectual and literary life in North America
  • 7.Translation and its scholarly narratives
  • 8.Translation and North America as a program
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 05 February 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.145.21guz
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