Research Themes and Projects
The Politics of Translation
The politics of translation are crucial in all of BBCWS foreign language services but the Arabic Service provides us with a multilingual contact zone of growing importance to BBCWS and to its cultural diplomacy functions.
In Sudan, tortured by a civil war, an ethnic war, and an oil war, BBCWS Arabic Service has an audience of a staggering 32.5% of the population (3,900,000 households) Just three examples of translation politics here. The President of Sudan may be referred to by the popular but neutral term ra'iis (lit. head), by the populist, propagandist qaa'id (lit. leader [of all]), or by haqiid (colonel), implying illegitimacy by military coup. For "public", the Arabic madaniyya (orig.: town square) allows no distinction between a top-down, state-sanctioned versus a bottom-up, civic forum, or indeed between an apolitical public sphere versus a rights-conscious civil society. For "audience", the Koranic term shuura may designate anything from a repressive ruler granting an audience, to government by consultation, sometimes propagated as an Arab-Muslim version of "democracy" (Arabic: dimukratiyya).
Such slippages of translation are not inherent to Arabic speaking audiences' thoughts, of course, but BBCWS has to negotiate them daily and ad sensum in each new context.
By focusing on selected news events across language services we will analyse the translatory principles and practices of BBCWS comparatively, and assess how diasporic and home country professionals adjust "impartial" news reporting to suit the needs and interests of audiences. In tandem with theme 4, in particular, we will also investigate how translation politics affects other genres: chiefly drama.
Associated Papers (restricted access)