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Chapter 1. Translating strangers

  • Esperança Bielsa
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Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power
This chapter is in the book Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power

Abstract

It has been argued that traditional notions of the stranger, as put forward in classical accounts by Simmel, Schütz and others, need to be re-examined in the light of widespread social developments that challenge the divisions between the self and the other that were once taken for granted. This chapter addresses the significance of the cosmopolitan stranger, whose skills are especially important under conditions of generalised societal strangeness. A consideration of the interrelated notions of distance and strangeness in the social experience of the stranger is offered and the specific features of the cosmopolitan stranger examined. After that, the cases of two cosmopolitan strangers (“dog whisperer” Cesar Millan and 9/11 impostor survivor Tania Head) who have played a prominent social role in societies that were not initially their own are discussed. A concluding section returns to the notions of distance and strangeness in order to generalise from these particular cases by relating them to different strategies for translating the foreign.

Abstract

It has been argued that traditional notions of the stranger, as put forward in classical accounts by Simmel, Schütz and others, need to be re-examined in the light of widespread social developments that challenge the divisions between the self and the other that were once taken for granted. This chapter addresses the significance of the cosmopolitan stranger, whose skills are especially important under conditions of generalised societal strangeness. A consideration of the interrelated notions of distance and strangeness in the social experience of the stranger is offered and the specific features of the cosmopolitan stranger examined. After that, the cases of two cosmopolitan strangers (“dog whisperer” Cesar Millan and 9/11 impostor survivor Tania Head) who have played a prominent social role in societies that were not initially their own are discussed. A concluding section returns to the notions of distance and strangeness in order to generalise from these particular cases by relating them to different strategies for translating the foreign.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Contributors ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
  6. Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
  7. Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
  8. Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
  9. Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
  10. Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
  11. Section II. Unveiling the structure
  12. Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
  13. Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
  14. Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
  15. Chapter 9. Translating values 197
  16. Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
  17. Section III. Resisting asymmetries
  18. Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
  19. Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
  20. Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
  21. Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
  22. Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
  23. Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
  24. Index 379
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.157.01bie

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Contributors ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
  6. Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
  7. Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
  8. Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
  9. Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
  10. Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
  11. Section II. Unveiling the structure
  12. Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
  13. Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
  14. Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
  15. Chapter 9. Translating values 197
  16. Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
  17. Section III. Resisting asymmetries
  18. Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
  19. Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
  20. Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
  21. Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
  22. Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
  23. Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
  24. Index 379
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