The ethics of translating postcolonial Moroccan literature : issues of intercultural communication and representation

Abstract EN

As the wheel of globalization proceeds on spinning intensifying in the process reactionary cultural diversities, the need for probing into the cultural dimension of translation becomes urgent.

Translation Studies since the early 90’s have been marked by a cultural turn that foregrounds translation as a form of intercultural communication.

The translator has been required then to assume the position of mediator who is aware of the embedment of meaning into a specific social context and value system.

Apparently, the plethora of postcolonial and immigration creative literature witnessed an upsurge of translational concern to satisfy the western public curiosity with regards to foreign cultures.

In so doing, the hybrid cultures (multiplicity of linguistic outputs and multi-ethnic identities) such literature reflects are homogenized in the translation work to serve the commercial ethnographic purposes of the publishing institutions.

The present paper tends to shed some light on the current trend of translational activities as an intercultural communication in the hope of establishing a theoretical ground for the critique of such ideological translation of Moroccan literature.

The paper is particularly interested in the translation of some literary works by Mohamed Mrabet into English.

The paper concludes with some implication for ethical translation based on a judicious application of the strategies of documentation and thick description, and a balanced application of domestication and foreignization.