Minor Empires

Abstract

The current focus in translation studies on interpreting and translation in various situations of conflict calls into question the specific relevance of the postcolonial critique as applied to translation. Although postcolonial critique has been, and continues to be, crucial and productive for translation studies, the proliferation of conflicts of a non-colonial nature and their mediatization in the global context call into question the predominant reliance on the postcolonial framework of colonizer-colonized, colonial hegemony, center-periphery, metropole-colony, and hybridity. This article uses the theoretical concept of (minor) transnationalism to propose a composite model of analysis of conflicts and their translation, one that grounds itself in specific situations of power and responds to a variety of post-imperial situations. The aim is to show that the concept of ‘empire’ that has been at the foundation of postcolonial critique cannot respond to all situations of conflict; however, translation studies scholars can mobilize their analyses of violent conflict to elucidate and elaborate a plural concept of empire.

Keywords:

• Postcolonial
• Post-imperial
• Minor transnationalism
• Hybridity
• Empire
• Former Yugoslavia
• Balkans

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zrinka Stahuljak

Zrinka Stahuljak, University of California, Los Angeles, Department of French & Francophone Studies, 212 Royce Hall, Box 951539, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. [email protected]