Voices of sovereignty : self-translation in post-colonialism literature

• Main Author: Tan, Qin Lin
• Other Authors: Cui Feng
• Format: Thesis-Master by Coursework
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Language::Chinese; Humanities::Language::English
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150956
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the surge in bi- or multi-lingual speakers following rapid globalisation, the act of self-translating has become a new phenomenon in cross-cultural communication. Self-translators are the bridges between at least two different cultures when they choose to position themselves at the intersections of two or more languages for two or more target audiences. This active involvement bestows writers and translators an exclusive role once unimaginable where the authorities of the two parties are now reaching an equilibrium. Translators are finally allowed exert their sovereignty in translation with creativity and autonomy. This paper aims to examine self-translation as an intervention to liberate the once-colonised by assuming autonomy in the rewriting of suppressed narratives in the state of political struggle with Dung Kai-Cheung’s Atlas as a case study. It will explore how different states of political struggle and dominance can influence the roles of the self-translator and the effects of the self-translated text, and if self-translation can become a resistance toward wider historical forces and events. Keywords: Self-Translation, Cultural Turn, Bilingualism, Multilingualism, Translation and Power, Post-Colonialism, Literary Translation, Dung Kai-Cheung, Atlas.