Crossing Linguistic Borders: Translating Democracy in the 2012 Egyptian Constitution

  • Barbara Quaranta University of Molise, Italy

Abstract

The transfer of political concepts into different places and cultures happens first and foremost through translation. Far from being a simple transposition of meaning into a different language to facilitate border crossing, it also entails a process of adjustment to a different cultural context and a change in what is perceived to be the original meaning of the concept. Translation should also include the analysis of the social contexts that cause a political concept to be modified. Through Baker's social narrative theory, all these aspects can be integrated to analyse how the concept of democracy moves from place to place and from language to language leading to more complex understandings of it. I will examine the meaning of the concept of democracy in the 2012 Egyptian Constitution to outline the main features of an intercultural translational process of the concept of democracy. 

Biografia autore

Barbara Quaranta, University of Molise, Italy
Barbara Quaranta holds a BA in Translation and Interpretation for Specific Purposes from the University of Naples 'L'Orientale', an MA in Translation in English and Arabic from UNINT University in Rome, and a PhD in Intercultural Relations and Processes from the University of Molise. She is a Lecturer in English Language at the University of Molise, and teaches Translation and Interpretation at SSML - Molise.  Her research interests include translation technology, the use of CAT tools and Machine Translation with Arabic, the translation of political concepts, democracy and translation and the political implications of translation.

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Pubblicato
2016-06-15
Fascicolo
Vol 1 N° 1 (2016): Borders
Sezione
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