Translating Cultures in the Arab World

Translating Cultures in the Arab World: New Histories and Geographies significantly expands translation studies by unearthing overlooked discussions and reconceptualizing the history and movements of translation. It moves beyond a Western-centric and Anglonormative research perspective by beginning with the Middle East and the Arabic language, critically engaging with scholarship from the Arab world, including the Gulf region and the Global South. This provides a more inclusive and representative theorization of translating cultures for the twenty-first century. It features contributions from leading scholars that challenge previous interpretations and highlight translation's crucial role in reshaping the translational humanities and Middle Eastern studies. The text addresses critical issues, including the philosophy of translation, the dialectical relationship between translation and culture, the complexities of untranslatability, and the pivotal role of translation within specific historical and cultural contexts, such as Medieval Islamic cookbooks, the Arab world in sixteenth-century Islamic Spain, epistemic translation in the Arab Renaissance (Nah-a), the first Saudi Opera, Zarqa Al Yamama, and the contemporary proliferation of translational spaces within the Gulf region. The volume thus serves as an essential intervention, urging scholars to interrogate how knowledge is constructed, contested, and reconfigured in global and translational contexts. As a comprehensive examination of translating cultures at the intersection of historical analysis, theoretical exploration, and global cultural exchange, this volume serves as an essential resource for scholars and students in translation studies, comparative literature, Middle Eastern studies, and related fields.

Moneera Al-Ghadeer holds the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She was a visiting professor at Columbia University and Harvard University, as well as a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Charles Forsdick is Drapers Professor of French at University of Cambridge and Lead Fellow for Languages at the British Academy. Andreas Karatsolis is a senior lecturer and the permanent Director of Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a program which supports the communication needs of all undergraduate MIT students.

Table of Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgement Introduction: Rethinking Translating Cultures and the Arab World Moneera Al-Ghadeer Part I - Translating Cultures: Theoretical Frameworks and Foundational Concepts 1. The Importance of Translation for the Study of Cultures Susan Bassnett 2. Translating Cultures: Origins and Future Directions Charles Forsdick 3. Planetary Concept Work: Philology, Untranslatables, Language Justice Emily Apter 4. Philosophy and Translation in the Arab World Abdessalam Benabdelali Part II- Translating Cultures in the Gulf Region: Case Studies and Emerging Paradigms 5. The Specter of Un-translatability and the First Saudi Opera, Zarqa al-Yamama Moneera Al-Ghadeer 6. Arabophone Cultures of Translation: Patterns and Factors for their Emergence Andreas Karatsolis and Mohammed Alsudairi Part III- Historical Perspectives on Cultural and Translational Movements 7. Rethinking Translating Cultures: Cultural Translation and Appropriation in 16th-Century Islamic Spain Ovidi Carbonell Cortes 8. Epistemic Translation: The Case of al--intiq-d by Ya'qub -arr-f Haifa Saud Alfaisal 9. Cultural Confluence: Loanwords as Vessels of Culinary and Cultural Exchange in Medieval Islamic Cookbooks: A Pilot Study Dima Abdul-Jabbar 10. Cultural Confluence: Loanwords as Vessels of Culinary and Cultural Exchange in Cookbooks from the Islamic Golden Age: A Pilot Study Dima Abdulmajeed Abduljabbar Index