Record Details

Literary translation, symbolic development and inclusion in South Africa

Literator

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Literary translation, symbolic development and inclusion in South Africa
 
Creator Botha, Maricel
 
Subject Applied language studies; Translation Studies; Translation Sociology; Development literary translation; symbolic development; symbolic exclusion; South Africa; transformative translation
Description Post-apartheid South African society remains characterised by significant social asymmetries and the need for development. Yet development should encompass not only meeting people’s material needs to ensure survival, but also the attainment of higher social ideals such as solidarity, citizenship and inclusion. Literary translation involving local languages has been posited as one way of attaining such ideals, yet this postulation requires further investigation. The main objective of this article is to investigate the intersections between literary translation and social transformation in South Africa from the perspective of symbolic development, which is accompanied and complemented by a consideration of symbolic exclusion. The focus is firstly on the theoretical connections between literary translation, development and inclusion and secondly on the practical disjunctions between these. The article finds that in theory, there is ground to promote literary translation as a means towards symbolic development because of its ability to equalise language statuses and promote intercultural appreciation. Yet, the highly commodified nature of literature amidst the continuation of socioeconomic inequalities as well as the position of English in literature detract from translation’s ability to foster symbolic development realistically within society at large, at least for the moment. From a theoretical perspective, the utility of incorporating development into translation studies remains significant, however, and translation studies could benefit from further investigation of translational development locally, mainly for its ability to direct research practically towards socially beneficial goals, specifically when combined with exclusion.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2021-07-28
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — — Social analysis
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/lit.v42i1.1798
 
Source Literator; Vol 42, No 1 (2021); 9 pages Literator; Vol 42, No 1 (2021); 9 pages 2219-8237 0258-2279
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1798/3481 https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1798/3482 https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1798/3483 https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1798/3484
 
Coverage South Africa Post-apartheid —
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Maricel Botha https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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