As part of a strong cultural studies turn in the Humanities (see Turns of Translation Studies), some theorists in Translation Studies in the 1990s distanced themselves from the popular Descriptive Translation Studies paradigm in order to highlight power differentials reflected in texts and in translation. Particular translation practices were advocated in order to contribute to redressing geo-political and social injustices. Venuti (1995), for example, showed how as a result of the domination of the United States and consequently of the English language, not only was the proportion of translated texts in the English-language book market minimal, but those books that were translated reinforced the dominant target culture values through fluent translation. He therefore advocated non-fluent translation practices, that is, strange formulations imitating source text expression or the use of marginal discourses in the target culture. Non-fluent practices were also advocated by feminist (see Gender in translation) and post-colonial translation theorists (e.g. Lotbinière-Harwood 1991; Niranjana 1992) in order to combat repressive and dominant attitudes, and to highlight alternative and complex discourses. Translation and translators were to be made visible.

References

Baker, Mona

2009 “Resisting state terror: Theorizing communities of activist translators and interpreters.” In Globalization, Political Violence and Translation, Esperanza Bielsa & Christopher W. Hughes (eds), 222–242. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  TSB

Boéri, Julie

2008 “A narrative account of the Babels vs. Naumann controversy: Competing Perspectives on Activism in Conference Interpreting.” The Translator 14 (1): 21–50.  TSB

Cheung, Martha

2010 “Rethinking activism: The power and dynamics of translation in China during the Late Qing Period (1840–1911).” In Text and Context: Essays on Translation and Interpreting in Honour of Ian Mason. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. 237–258.  TSB

Cronin, Michael

2003 Translation and Globalization. London & New York: Routledge.  BoP

Inghilleri, Moira

2009 “Translators in war zones: Ethics under fire in Iraq.” In Globalization, Political Violence and Translation, Esperanza Bielsa & Christopher W. Hughes (eds), 207–221. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  TSB

Lotbinière-Harwood, Susanne de

1991 Re-belle et infidèle. La traduction comme pratique de réécriture au féminin/The Body Bilingual. Translation as a Re-writing in the Feminine. Québec: Les éditions du remue-ménage/The Women’s Press.

Niranjana, Tejaswini

1992 Siting Translation: History, Post-structuralism, and the Colonial Context. Berkeley & Los Angeles & Oxford: University of California Press.  TSB

Tymoczko, Maria

2000 “Translation and political engagement: Activism, social change and the role of translation in geopolitical shifts”. The Translator 6 (1): 23–47.  TSB

Venuti, Lawrence

1995 The Translator’s Invisibility. London/New York: Routledge.  BoP