The Translator as a Colonial Agent: Reframing the South in the English Translation of Season of Migration to the North
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1407.19Keywords:
postcolonial translation, narrative theory, Tayeb Salih, reframing, Season of Migration to the NorthAbstract
This paper sets out to examine the translation of Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North in light of Narrative theory. In his work, Salih is writing back to the empire as a form of resistance against British Colonialism. The translation seems to tone this resistance down by constructing a narrative that underlines the superiority of the North over the South. The paper attempts to offer a fresh perspective as it explores how the South is reframed in the target text to be represented to the target audience. It also attempts to answer the question of how the East/South is narrated and whether it has been (dis)empowered in the novel’s translation. Given the importance of the text, It is essential to investigate how the novel has been introduced in the West using a strong and adaptable framework capable of capturing the complexities of the interactions among various powers involved. Narrative theory offers such a framework and is particularly suitable for the current study.
References
Al-Fayya, A. (2013). Naẓarat fī Trajamat Mawsim Alhijra ´lā Ashamāl [Perspectives on the translation of Season of Migration to the North]. Sudannile. Retrieved December 18, 2022, https://sudanile.com/?option=com
Alison, F. (2009). Sudanese novelist Tayeb Salih dies aged 80. The Guardian, Retrieved December 18, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/feb/19/fiction-sudan
Allawzi, A., Al- Jabri, H., Ammari, D., Ali, S. (2022). Translation as a political action: reframing ‘the deal of the century’ in the translations of the BBC. Heliyon, 8(2), 1-6. Retrieved December 18, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08856
Allawzi, A., Ammari, D., Salman, D., & Almazaidah, I. (2023). Translation as an Ideological Practice in Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin. Jordan Journal of Modern Languages & Literatures, 15(4), 1325–1340. Retrieved December 18, 2022, https://doi.org/10.47012/jjmll.15.4.11
Baker, M. )2006. (Translation and conflict: a narrative account. Routledge.
Baker, M. (2007). Reframing conflict in translation. Social Semiotics, 17(2), 151–169. Retrieved December 29, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330701311454
Baker, M. (2010). Narratives of terrorism and security: ‘accurate’ translations, suspicious frames. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 3(3), 347–364. Retrieved December 20, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2010.521639
Baker, M. (2013). Translation as an Alternative Space for Political Action. Social Movement Studies, 12(1), 23- 47. Retrieved December 29, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2012.685624
Baker, M. (2014). Translation as re-narration. In House, J. (Eds.), Translation: a Multidisciplinary Approach (pp. 158-177). Basingstoke. Retrieved December 29, 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137025487_9
Bassnett S., & Bush, P. R. (2006). The Translator as Writer. Continuum.
Bassnett S., & Trivedi, H. (1999). Postcolonial Translation: Theory and Practice. Routledge.
Behnam, B. et al. (2017). Slave-master relationship and post-colonial translation and teaching. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(3), 565-570. Retrieved December 29, 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0803.15
Burney, S. (2012). Chapter Four: resistance and counter-discourse: Writing Back to the Empire. Counterpoints, 417, 105–116.
Cheyfitz, E. (1991). The poetics of imperialism: translation and colonization from “The tempest” to “Tarzan”. Oxford University Press.
Collins dictionary. Retrieved December 10, 2022 from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/
Dubbati, B., & Abudayeh, H. (2017). The translator as an activist: reframing conflict in the Arabic translation of Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza. The Translator, 24(2), 147-165. Retrieved December 15, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2017.1382662
Faiq, S. (2001). Subverted representation in La Nuit Sacrée and its Arabic translation. International Journal of Francophone Studies, 4(1), 42-54. Retrieved December 21, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfs.4.1.42
Faiq, S. (2004). The discourse of intercultural Translation. Intercultural Communication Studies, XIII(3), 35-46. https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/file/04-Said-Faiq.pdf
Hafnawi, B. (2015). Tamathullāt almamnū` wa almaqmū` fī alriwaya alarabiyya almu`aṣira [Representations of the forbidden and the suppressed in the contemporary Arabic novel]. Dar al-Yazori.
Hammad, L. (2016). Cultural Colonialism in Season of Migration to the North. Trans-Humanities, 9(1), 105-128. Retrieved December 19, 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/trh.2016.0005
Harding, S. (2012). How do I apply narrative theory? Target, 24(2), 286–309. Retrieved December 18, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1075/target.24.2.04har
Hodges, P. (2010). Cultural Approach to Translation Theory. Translation Directory. Retrieved December 10, 2022 from https://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article2202.php.
Jaber, F. (2016). Representing, narrating, and translating the Syrian humanitarian disaster in The Guardian and The New York Times. Global Media Journal, 9(2), 65-81, Retrieved December 15, 2022.
Jacquemond, R. (1992). Translation and cultural hegemony: The case of French-Arabic translation. In Venuti, L. (Eds.), Rethinking Translation (pp. 139-158). Routledge. Retrieved January, 10, 2023, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429432385-9
Johnson-Davies, D., & Ghazoul, f. (1983). On Translating Arabic Literature: An Interview with Denys Johnson Davies. Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, 3, 80–93. Retrieved December 17, 2022, https://doi.org/10.2307/521657
Makdisi, S. (1992). The empire renarrated: ‘Season of Migration to the North’ and the reinvention of the present. Critical Inquiry, 18(4), 804–820. Retrieved December 25, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1086/448657
Munday, J. (2006). Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications. Routledge.
Niranjana, T. (1992). Siting Translation: history, Post-Structuralism, and the colonial context. University of California Press.
Rafael, V. (1988). Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule. Cornell University Press.
Robinson, D. (2011). Translation and Empire: Postcolonial Theories Explained. Routledge.
Said, E. (1994). Culture and Imperialism. Vintage Print.
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. Vintage.
Salih, T. (2003). Season of Migration to the North (D. Johnson-Davies, trans.) Penguin Books (Original work published 1966).
Salih, T. (2005). Mawsim Al-Hijra Ela Al-Shamal. Dar Al-Awdah.
Schäffner, C. (2003). Third ways and new centers, ideological unity or difference. In Pérez, M. C. (Eds.), Apropos of ideology (pp. 23-41). St. Jerome. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
Scott, C. (2000). Translating Baudelaire. Exeter University Press.
Sengupta, M. (1996). Translation as manipulation: The power of images and the images of power. In Dingwaney, A., & Maier C (Eds.), Between Languages and Cultures: Translation and Cross-Cultural Texts (pp. 159-74). University of Pittsburgh Press.
Shamma, T. (2009). Postcolonial studies and translation theory. Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación, 1, 183-196.
Simon, S., & St-Pierre, P. (2000). Changing the Terms: Translating in the Postcolonial Era. University of Ottawa Press.
Snell-Hornby, M. (2006). The turns of translation studies: new paradigms or shifting viewpoints?. Benjamins.
Somers, M. (1992). Narrativity, narrative identity, and social action: Rethinking English working-class formation. Social Science History, 16(4), 591-630. Retrieved January 13, 2023, https://doi.org/10.2307/1171314
Somers, M. R., & Gibson G. D. (1994). Reclaiming the epistemological “Other”: Narrative and the social constitution of identity. In Calhoun, C. (Eds.), Social theory and the politics of identity (pp. 37-99). Blackwell.
Süreci, Y. (2015). Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North as a postcolonial text. International Journal of Social Science, 35, 471-477. Retrieved January 20, 2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.9761/JASSS2927
Toury, G. (1995). Descriptive translation studies and beyond. John Benjamins.
Tymoczko, M. (2000). Translation and Political Engagement. The Translator, 6(1), 23–47. Retrieved December 14, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2000.10799054
Tymoczko, M. (2007). Enlarging Translation, Empowering Translators. St. Jerome.
Venuti, L. (1995). The translator’s invisibility: a history of translation. Routledge.
