Translation x Poetry x Gender: A Queer-Feminist Analysis of Afrikaans Poems with English Translations (2018)

van Der Hoven, Shane

Translation x Poetry x Gender: A Queer-Feminist Analysis of Afrikaans Poems with English Translations (2018)

Master Thesis

2022

Abstract

This study examines the treatment of gender-related elements and the presence/ absence of practices associated with Queer-Feminist translations in Afrikaans Poems with English Translations (2018) – an anthology edited by H.P. van Coller, Helize van Vuuren, and Louise Viljoen. After presenting structural and critical motivations for the studying of anthologies of Afrikaans-English poetry translations and mapping a conceptualization of Queer-Feminist translations and gender-sensitive translational analyses, descriptive and comparative analyses and critical discussions of the relevant translations in Afrikaans Poems with English Translations (2018) are offered. Significant translational patterns noted during our readings include: the minor presence of collaborative and plural translations, limited efforts at contextualization, the unbalanced privileging of ‘masculine' linguistic elements, the erasure and/ or reduction of ‘feminine' and ‘queer' signifiers, the utilization of gender-inclusive pronouns, but also the countering of gender-sensitive and gender-inclusive discourse components and opportunities. It is acknowledged that the individual translational choices might seem trivial when parochially separated from the other choices discernible in the text; however, when read together, especially as motivated by the anthologized and parallel nature of the text and its claims regarding ‘representativeness', the text's disproportionate presentation of heteropatriarchal ideologies and traditions (articulated via the exhibited translation choices and practices) call for a greater inclusion of Queer-Feminist translation practices. Additionally, on par with a Queer-Feminist tradition of answering to lexical gaps, this project contains a subsection that motivates for the inclusion of the term ‘kweer' in the Afrikaans lexicon. Finally, in an attached appendix, an exercise in performing a QueerFeminist translation process is also posed.

Keywords

Language, Literature, &amp

Modernity.

Reference:

Collections

Masters

Full item page