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Perspectives
Studies in Translation Theory and Practice
Volume 25, 2017 - Issue 2
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Articles

Eurocentrism and Latin Americanism in Latin American translation history

Pages 260-272 | Received 05 Sep 2016, Accepted 07 Oct 2016, Published online: 28 Nov 2016
 

ABSTRACT

Language and discourse are inextricably linked in the establishment of power and hegemony. In today’s globalized world, the power emanating from hegemonic centres that control communication and information systems is indisputable. The field of Translation Studies is not immune to such influence. Since it was developed and expanded in the West, mainly in Europe, Translation Studies discourse reflects its origins. In this article, I will first characterize Eurocentrist and Latin Americanist discourses and then study four Eurocentric biases noticeable in the treatment of the history of Latin American translation: (1) the ‘civilizing task’ of missionaries; (2) the ‘interculturation’ and understanding of ‘métissage’ and ‘transculturation’ notions; (3) the concept of ‘empathy’ with native peoples; and (4) the perspective and rescue of native languages by evangelistic religious orders. To discuss these biases, I will draw on the prototypical article by Vega Cernuda.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Álvaro Echeverri and the anonymous reviewers for their wise comments and Liane Johnston for the English revision of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Georges L. Bastin, Ph.D. in Translation Studies from the Université de Paris III, is Full Professor at the Université de Montréal. His research interests lie in the fields of translation pedagogy and translation history. He is author of ¿Traducir o adaptar?, co-author of Charting the Future of Translation History and Profession traducteur, and has contributed to the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Translation Studies and various refereed journals. He edited two META special issues on translation history (2004 and 2005) and co-edited two issues of TTR (2008 and 2010). He heads the Research Group on Translation History in Latin America (www.histal.ca). From 2014 he is Editor of META and President of the Canadian Association of Schools of Translation (CAST).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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