Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan

Located in East Asia, Taiwan is an island off the southeast part of Mainland China. After martial law was lifted in 1987, one of the ways by which the long-suppressed Taiwanese Indigenous communities can make themselves be seen has been writing in Chinese, but in a style that intentionally mixes Chi...

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Main Author: Che, Richard Rong-bin
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Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss41/5
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/2047/viewcontent/KK_2041_2C_202023_205_20Regular_20section_20__20Chen.pdf
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spelling ph-ateneo-arc.kk-20472024-12-19T05:42:02Z Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan Che, Richard Rong-bin Located in East Asia, Taiwan is an island off the southeast part of Mainland China. After martial law was lifted in 1987, one of the ways by which the long-suppressed Taiwanese Indigenous communities can make themselves be seen has been writing in Chinese, but in a style that intentionally mixes Chinese with their ethnic mother tongues. Accordingly, this mixed literary style brings about great challenges for the English translators of Taiwan Indigenous literature. This paper deals with the English translation problems of Syaman Rapongan’s works against the background of an ongoing dispute over “domestication” and “foreignization” in translation studies, focusing on the issue of how translators can keep the “cultural other” in the texts while succeeding in the task of cross-cultural communication. What can be of great help is the “ethnographic translation” method proposed by, among others, anthropologist Vincent Crapanzano: that is, “the coupling of a presentation that asserts the foreign and an interpretation that makes it all familiar” (52). Focusing on Taiwanese Indigenous literary ethnographer Syaman Rapongan, this paper explores the problems of the English translations of his works and contends that the problems can be attributed to Syaman Rapongan’s writing being a type of “born-translated” literature, as defined by Rebecca Walkowitz. I will then explain specifically how the ethnographic terms he uses can be properly translated without sacrificing their foreignness, so as to retrieve the erased cultural other in translation. 2024-12-19T06:09:04Z text application/pdf https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss41/5 info:doi/10.13185/1656-152x.2047 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/2047/viewcontent/KK_2041_2C_202023_205_20Regular_20section_20__20Chen.pdf Kritika Kultura Archīum Ateneo “born-translated” Indigenous literature cross-cultural communication cultural other ethnographic translation literary ethnography Syaman Rapongan
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic “born-translated” Indigenous literature
cross-cultural communication
cultural other
ethnographic translation
literary ethnography
Syaman Rapongan
spellingShingle “born-translated” Indigenous literature
cross-cultural communication
cultural other
ethnographic translation
literary ethnography
Syaman Rapongan
Che, Richard Rong-bin
Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan
description Located in East Asia, Taiwan is an island off the southeast part of Mainland China. After martial law was lifted in 1987, one of the ways by which the long-suppressed Taiwanese Indigenous communities can make themselves be seen has been writing in Chinese, but in a style that intentionally mixes Chinese with their ethnic mother tongues. Accordingly, this mixed literary style brings about great challenges for the English translators of Taiwan Indigenous literature. This paper deals with the English translation problems of Syaman Rapongan’s works against the background of an ongoing dispute over “domestication” and “foreignization” in translation studies, focusing on the issue of how translators can keep the “cultural other” in the texts while succeeding in the task of cross-cultural communication. What can be of great help is the “ethnographic translation” method proposed by, among others, anthropologist Vincent Crapanzano: that is, “the coupling of a presentation that asserts the foreign and an interpretation that makes it all familiar” (52). Focusing on Taiwanese Indigenous literary ethnographer Syaman Rapongan, this paper explores the problems of the English translations of his works and contends that the problems can be attributed to Syaman Rapongan’s writing being a type of “born-translated” literature, as defined by Rebecca Walkowitz. I will then explain specifically how the ethnographic terms he uses can be properly translated without sacrificing their foreignness, so as to retrieve the erased cultural other in translation.
format text
author Che, Richard Rong-bin
author_facet Che, Richard Rong-bin
author_sort Che, Richard Rong-bin
title Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan
title_short Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan
title_full Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan
title_fullStr Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan
title_full_unstemmed Ethnography, Born-Translated Literature, and Translation: The Case of Syaman Rapongan
title_sort ethnography, born-translated literature, and translation: the case of syaman rapongan
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2024
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss41/5
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/2047/viewcontent/KK_2041_2C_202023_205_20Regular_20section_20__20Chen.pdf
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