UBC’s mission is ‘education for global citizenship’. There can be no activity more central to global citizenship than translation. Whether we realise it or not, we all engage in multiple acts of ‘translation’ every day. Translation makes communication possible, at the linguistic level and at the cultural level. Translators and interpreters are just as vital to modern communications as the hard-wired technology that transmits their messages. Translation extends beyond words to embrace values too and to enter the sphere of diplomacy. We cannot expect to become global citizens without understanding the customs and values of other cultures.
Because any translation transaction involves two languages or cultures, the issue of authority is highly germane. There is often a hierarchy of values between the ‘importing’ and ‘exporting’ languages or cultures, whether implicit or explicit. In other words, the act of translation is usually a political act. Colonists may translate their canonical religious texts as part of the act of annexation. Oppressed groups may use translations of classic dramatic texts to articulate and organise resistance.
Karl Brandt at the Nuremburg Trials
The objective of the workshop was to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars involved in the theory and practice of translation in the humanities and beyond. We discussed the models utilised in translation between texts in different languages emanating from different cultures and explore the issues of authority, inferiority and superiority implied by those models. The importance of translation can hardly be overestimated. Globalisation might make the world into a village, but it requires translation for successful communication. Translation of texts and of cultures is a key component of 21st century life – and this makes it crucial for us to understand the issues raised by the process of translation.
Translation and Authority was an Exploratory Workshop funded by a grant from the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the awarded to Principal Investigator Susanna Braund, Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies.
