Corine Tachtiris

Race in Translation

Monday, December 11, 2023, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

Corine Tachtiris

Instances like the controversy around the translation of Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem into other languages have tended to address the issue of race in translation in relation to who translates as opposed to how one translates work by authors of color and/or about race in politically, ethically, and aesthetically responsible ways. This seminar offers approaches to translating work dealing with race in translation that foreground racial justice and that are also attentive to how constructions and politics of race differ across cultural contexts. In the last part of the seminar, we will work together through the translation of an example text that uses race in a linguistically charged way. Knowledge of the source language is not required.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Glover, Kaiama L. "“Blackness” in French: On Translation, Haiti, and the Matter of Race." L'Esprit Créateur, vol. 59 no. 2, 2019, pp. 25-41. Project MUSE. 

Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1353/esp.2019.0014