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Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry

The language of animal rights and animal welfare
  • Myriam Salama-Carr
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Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power
This chapter is in the book Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power

Abstract

Growing public concern about animal welfare, notably in the context of widespread industry-led exploitation of animals and abusive breeding and slaughtering practices, is increasingly politicised and the shift of focus from the concept of animal welfare to that of animal rights, from compassion to ethics, is framed in an increasingly vocal political discourse. Described as “the fastest social movement” (Gaarder 2011), animal activism has achieved a global dimension where translation plays a significant albeit under-researched role in constructing and disseminating a discourse of animal welfare and contributing to “the social construction of animals” (Stibbe 2001). Drawing on Schicktanz’s (2006) discussion of asymmetry and ambivalence in the context of the human-animal relationship, the paper will explore how, with a backdrop of greater convergence between philosophical and scientific perspectives, concepts such as sentience, welfare and rights are evolving with reference to non-human animals. Examples will be drawn from European and international institutions’ material and from activist organisations.

Abstract

Growing public concern about animal welfare, notably in the context of widespread industry-led exploitation of animals and abusive breeding and slaughtering practices, is increasingly politicised and the shift of focus from the concept of animal welfare to that of animal rights, from compassion to ethics, is framed in an increasingly vocal political discourse. Described as “the fastest social movement” (Gaarder 2011), animal activism has achieved a global dimension where translation plays a significant albeit under-researched role in constructing and disseminating a discourse of animal welfare and contributing to “the social construction of animals” (Stibbe 2001). Drawing on Schicktanz’s (2006) discussion of asymmetry and ambivalence in the context of the human-animal relationship, the paper will explore how, with a backdrop of greater convergence between philosophical and scientific perspectives, concepts such as sentience, welfare and rights are evolving with reference to non-human animals. Examples will be drawn from European and international institutions’ material and from activist organisations.

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.157.02sal

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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