Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions
-
Georgios Floros
Abstract
The prospects of a solution to the Cyprus issue have led to a revived interest in the fate of Famagusta, which, after more than 40 years of abandonment due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, has turned into a ghost city and a strong symbol both of the island’s division and the prospect of reunification. Hands-on-Famagusta, an architectural project (2015a) by a bi-communal team (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) aiming to explore prospects of reunifying the city, also becomes important through its trilingual website (English-Greek-Turkish). More specifically, the involvement of various translation agents co-shaped the translation product and led to the creation of what will be termed a polyphonic translation (following Bakhtin 1986), as this trilingual output allowed not merely for a simple coexistence of conflicting discourses, but for a quasi-interaction, aiming at highlighting them as constituting elements of a potential cohabitation of Famagusta. All parties involved negotiated their memory and bypassed officially established language and translation policies and challenged dominant discourses of both sides. Their action prompts new ways of thinking about translation politics in terms of (a) citizens emerging as active agents of translation because, through or despite their memories and in contrast to official power centers, and (b) the reevaluation of “accuracy” and “sameness” in particularly polyphonic translation situations, where opposing discourses converge to necessary “amnesia.”
Abstract
The prospects of a solution to the Cyprus issue have led to a revived interest in the fate of Famagusta, which, after more than 40 years of abandonment due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, has turned into a ghost city and a strong symbol both of the island’s division and the prospect of reunification. Hands-on-Famagusta, an architectural project (2015a) by a bi-communal team (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) aiming to explore prospects of reunifying the city, also becomes important through its trilingual website (English-Greek-Turkish). More specifically, the involvement of various translation agents co-shaped the translation product and led to the creation of what will be termed a polyphonic translation (following Bakhtin 1986), as this trilingual output allowed not merely for a simple coexistence of conflicting discourses, but for a quasi-interaction, aiming at highlighting them as constituting elements of a potential cohabitation of Famagusta. All parties involved negotiated their memory and bypassed officially established language and translation policies and challenged dominant discourses of both sides. Their action prompts new ways of thinking about translation politics in terms of (a) citizens emerging as active agents of translation because, through or despite their memories and in contrast to official power centers, and (b) the reevaluation of “accuracy” and “sameness” in particularly polyphonic translation situations, where opposing discourses converge to necessary “amnesia.”
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
- Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
- Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
- Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
- Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
- Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
-
Section II. Unveiling the structure
- Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
- Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
- Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
- Chapter 9. Translating values 197
- Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
-
Section III. Resisting asymmetries
- Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
- Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
- Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
- Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
- Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
- Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
- Index 379
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
- Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
- Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
- Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
- Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
- Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
-
Section II. Unveiling the structure
- Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
- Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
- Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
- Chapter 9. Translating values 197
- Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
-
Section III. Resisting asymmetries
- Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
- Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
- Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
- Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
- Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
- Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
- Index 379
