Article published in:
Translation Spaces
Vol. 7:2 (2018) ► pp. 202–218

Understanding urban intervention as a translational activity

A case of the Yeldeğirmeni neighborhood

| Yıldız Technical University
| Yıldız Technical University
This article aims to examine Yeldeğirmeni, a historically multilingual and multicultural neighborhood in Istanbul, as a translation zone. The language landscape of Yeldeğirmeni, along with its social and cultural texture, has been transformed by both social and political changes in Turkey, and as a result of urban interventions by institutional and individual actors. We discuss the Yeldeğirmeni Revitalization Project and Mural Istanbul Festival as urban interventions that transform the social and cultural texture of the city in translation zones, owing to the significant role played by cultural mediators. Yeldeğirmeni is analyzed as a discourse in the context of cultural translation, and urban intervention is viewed as a medium of translation.
Keywords: Yeldeğirmeni, sociology of translation, cultural mediators, translation zone, translation as intervention, gentrification, street art, Mural Istanbul
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Yeldeğirmeni as a translation zone
  • Cultural mediators and intercultural transfer activities
  • Gentrification as a strategy of cultural translation
  • Street art as a medium of translation in Yeldeğirmeni
    • Murals in Yeldeğirmeni and the Mural Istanbul Festival
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 November 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.18004.ayh
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