“Reframing Narratives” in the Arabic Translation of Leila Aboulela’s The Translator, Fadia Faqir’s My Name is Salma and Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin

Abstract

The present study argues that in the present globalized world translation is an integral part of how cultures are evolving and is a powerful tool capable of inscribing difference or enhancing intercultural dialogue. Translation is a cultural and linguistic practice which can form and fix, or otherwise alter, the identity of the self and the other. Translation wields enormous power in constructing representations of the self, the other and of foreign cultures. Accordingly, within the framework of Mona Baker’s recently proposed narrative theory, the study adopts an integrated approach that examines the interrelationship between narrative, identity and translation in the context of migration. Chapter one presents the theoretical basis of the study. It offers a definition of the concept of narrative as reconfigured in social and communication theory and pinpoints its relevance to the process of translation and to Arab women transnational writing. The concept of narrative has been the subject of study in a large number of disciplines, albeit with different theoretical orientations. The present thesis is premised on the proposition that a paradigm shift has occurred with respect to the meaning and function of the concept of narrative. Such a shift is evident in many fields of study, including philosophy, history, sociology, and psychology. Following Baker’s recently proposed theory and methodology with regard to the integration of the concept of narrative – as reconfigured in some strands of social and communication theory – and translation studies, the present study adopts a sociological approach to the concept of narrative.