This article deals with the need of a postmodern understanding of translation in the context of postcolonial Brasil. Adopting a postcolonial translation concept has several consequences. First of all, it accords an equal status to both the author and the translator. Second, since the translation process is seen as an exchange in two directions, the distinction between source and target text becomes irrelevant. The translation is seen as a pluricultural polyphony. Third, the hierarchy between the so-called superior and inferior cultures is suspended. The decolonialisation of two "marginal" subjects, the translation discipline and Brasil's peripheral culture, should effect a revalorisation of both.