Abstract

Translation and Opposition is an edited volume that brings together cultural and sociological perspectives by examining translation through the prism of linguistic/cultural hybridity and inter/intra-social agency. In a collection of diverse case studies, ranging from the translation of political texts to interpreting in concentration camps, the book explores issues of power struggle, ideology, censorship and identity construction. The contributors to the volume show how translators, interpreters and subtitlers as mediators put their specific professional and ethical competences to the test by treading the dividing lines between constellations of ‘in-groups’ and cultural or political ‘others’.

All the articles included in this remarkable volume are clear reflections if recent developments in Translation Studies. This book is undoubtably a necessary read for anyone interested in the potential of translation for political activism and for the construction of individual or collective identities.

This invaluable volume explores the complex relations between the translator’s textual action, the agency of the various parties involved in bringing about and exploiting translated works, and the social and political effects of this action and agency. The book’s value lies in its detailed mapping of how all these complex intertextual, interpersonal and inter-group relations intertwine across the translated text. The book provides a clear route-guide for where socially-based translation studies is heading, and should be heading, in the 2010s and beyond.

Dimitris Asimakoulas is the Programme Director for the MA in Audiovisual Translation and the MA in Translation Studies with Intercultural Communication at the Centre for Translation Studies at the University of Surrey. He has published in leading translation journals, focusing on sociological approaches to translation. He is a member of the editorial board for New Voices in Translation.

Margaret Rogers is Professor of Translation and Terminology Studies and Director of the Centre for Translation Studies at the University of Surrey. She initiated the Terminology Network in the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, UK, and is a founder member of the Association of Terminology and Lexicography. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of Terminology, LSP and Professional Communication and Fachsprache as well as being a member of the Executive Board of the International Institute for Terminology Research.

Essays such as the ones in these collections revitalize, expand, and solidify Translation Studies as a discipline, making both books essential reading not only for tranlsators, but also for anyone curious about our common existence as translated beings.

Translation and Opposition is a must-read for anyone interested in the issues of agency, censorship and power. The articles provide a rich array of theoretical views and empirical case studies of different "interfaces where agency becomes manifest" in translation. Fascinating reading.

Foregrounding issues of power brokering, agency and conflicting subjectivities, Translation and Opposition engages in a critical dialogue with recent studies in the emerging domain of activist translation. Specialists in their respective fields, the contributors challenge traditional views on translation by both the depth and breadth of their respective case studies, covering an appealing variety of contexts, from (mis)translation in the literature of the Russian Empire, via rewrites of traditional folk stories in Turkey to community interpreting work in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Warmly recommended to anyone interested in the sociology of translation.