Agencies In Feminist Translator Studies

This edited book addresses the diversity across time and space of the sites, actors and practices of feminist translation from 1945-2000. The contributors examine what happens when a politically motivated text is translated linguistically and culturally, the translators and their aims, and the strategies employed when adapting texts to locally resonating discourses. The collection aims to answer these questions through case studies and a conceptual rethinking of the process of politically engaged translation, considering not only trained translators and publishers, but also feminist activists and groups, NGOs and writers. The book will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of translation studies, gender/women's studies, literature and feminist history.

"This book sets out a new framework for a feminist history of translators, drawing on the legacy of Canadian scholar Barbara Godard and her work in establishing the Canadian literary landscape as a means of exploring agency in feminist translation studies and its implications for cross-disciplinary debates. The volume is organized in three sections, establishing feminist translator studies as its own approach, examining these dynamics at work in a comprehensive portrait of Barbara Godard's scholarly and literary history, and looking ahead to future directions. In situating the discussion on Godard and Canadian literary history, Elena Castellano calls attention to a geographic context in which translation and its practice has been at the heart of debates around national identity and intersected with the rise of feminism and feminist literary scholarship. The book demonstrates how an in-depth exploration of the agency of an individual stakeholder, whose activities spanned diverse communities and oft conflicting interests, can engage in key questions at the intersection of nation-making, translation, and feminism, paving the way for future research and the further development of feminist translator studies as methodological framework. This book will be of interest to scholars in translation studies, feminist literature, cultural history, and Canadian literature"--

Feminist Translation Studies: Local and Transnational Perspectives situates feminist translation as political activism. Chapters highlight the multiple agendas and visions of feminist translation and the different political voices and cultural heritages through which it speaks across times and places, addressing the question of how both literary and nonliterary discourses migrate and contribute to local and transnational processes of feminist knowledge building and political activism. This collection does not pursue a narrow, fixed definition of feminism that is based solely on (Eurocentric or West-centric) gender politics—rather, Feminist Translation Studies: Local and Transnational Perspectives seeks to expand our understanding of feminist action not only to include feminist translation as resistance against multiple forms of domination, but also to rethink feminist translation through feminist theories and practices developed in different geohistorical and disciplinary contexts. In so doing, the collection expands the geopolitical, sociocultural and historical scope of the field from different disciplinary perspectives, pointing towards a more transnational, interdisciplinary and overtly political conceptualization of translation studies.

In these times of the intensified transnational flows of feminist knowledges, translation has become central to the cross-border travels of feminist theories and practices. This innovative multidisciplinary book gathers a rich range of essays from diverse epistemological formations to explore the many ways translation actively participates in building feminist agendas in "transnational, translingual and transcultural encounters," while always sensitive to a "politics of location." The anthology makes a much-needed contribution and will surely become required reading for those engaged in the burgeoning field of transnational feminism and translation studies. Claudia J de Lima Costa, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil This edited book addresses the diversity across time and space of the sites, actors and practices of feminist translation from 1945-2000. The contributors examine what happens when a politically motivated text is translated linguistically and culturally, the translators and their aims, and the strategies employed when adapting texts to locally resonating discourses. The collection aims to answer these questions through case studies and a conceptual rethinking of the process of politically engaged translation, considering not only trained translators and publishers, but also feminist activists and groups, NGOs and writers. The book will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of translation studies, gender/women's studies, literature and feminist history.

This book sets out a new framework for a feminist history of translators, drawing on the legacy of Canadian scholar Barbara Godard and her work in establishing the Canadian literary landscape as a means of exploring agency in feminist translation studies and its implications for cross-disciplinary debates. The volume is organised in three sections, establishing feminist translator studies as its own approach, examining these dynamics at work in a comprehensive portrait of Barbara Godard’s scholarly and literary history, and looking ahead to future directions. In situating the discussion on Godard and Canadian literary history, Elena Castellano calls attention to a geographic context in which translation and its practice has been at the heart of debates around national identity and intersected with the rise of feminism and feminist literary scholarship. The book demonstrates how an in-depth exploration of the agency of an individual stakeholder, whose activities spanned diverse communities and oft conflicting interests, can engage in key questions at the intersection of nation-making, translation, and feminism, paving the way for future research and the further development of feminist translator studies as methodological framework. This book will be of interest to scholars in translation studies, feminist literature, cultural history, and Canadian literature.

"This pioneering work advocates for a shift toward inclusivity in the UK translated literature landscape, investigating and challenging unconscious bias around women in translation and building on existing research highlighting the role of translators as activists and agents and the possibilities for these new theoretical models to contribute to meaningful industry change. The book sets out the context for the new subdiscipline of Feminist Translator Studies, positing this as an essential mechanism to work towards diversity in the translated literature sector of the publishing industry. In a series of five case studies that each exemplify a key component of the Feminist Translator Studies "toolkit", Vassallo draws on exclusive interviews with a range of activist translators and publishers, setting these in dialogue with contemporary perspectives on feminism and translation to propose a new agent-based model of feminist translation practice. In synthesizing these perspectives, Vassallo makes a powerful argument for questioning existing structures in the translated literature publishing system which perpetuate bias and connecting these conversations to wider social movements toward promoting demonstrable change in the industry. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in translation studies, literary studies, cultural studies, and gender studies"--

This pioneering work advocates for a shift toward inclusivity in the UK translated literature landscape, investigating and challenging unconscious bias around women in translation and building on existing research highlighting the role of translators as activists and agents and the possibilities for these new theoretical models to contribute to meaningful industry change. The book sets out the context for the new subdiscipline of feminist translator studies, positing this as an essential mechanism to work towards diversity in the translated literature sector of the publishing industry. In a series of five case studies that each exemplify a key component of the feminist translator studies "toolkit", Vassallo draws on exclusive interviews with a range of activist translators and publishers, setting these in dialogue with contemporary perspectives on feminism and translation to propose a new agent-based model of feminist translation practice. In synthesising these perspectives, Vassallo makes a powerful argument for questioning existing structures in the translated literature publishing system which perpetuate bias and connects these conversations to wider social movements towards promoting demonstrable change in the industry. This book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of translation studies and publishing, as well as for the various agents involved in promoting translated literature in the UK and beyond.

Gender in Translation is a broad-ranging, imaginative and lively look at feminist issues surrounding translation studies. Students and teachers of translation studies, linguistics, gender studies and women's studies will find this unprecedented work invaluable and thought-provoking reading. Sherry Simon argues that translation of feminist texts - with a view to promoting feminist perspectives - is a cultural intervention, seeking to create new cultural meanings and bring about social change. She takes a close look at specific issues which include: the history of feminist theories of language and translation studies; linguistic issues, including a critical examination of the work of Luce Irigaray; a look at women translators through history, from the Renaissance to the twentieth century; feminist translations of the Bible; an analysis of the ways in which French feminist texts such as De Beauvoir's The Second Sex have been translated into English.