Translating Egypt’s Revolution: The Language of Tahrir PDF
Preview Translating Egypt’s Revolution: The Language of Tahrir
Translating Egypt’s Revolution This unique interdisciplinary collective project is the culmination of research and translation work conducted by AUC students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds who continue to wit- ness Egypt's ongoing revolution. This historic event has produced an unprecedented proliferation of political and cultural documents and materials, whether written, oral, or visual. Given their range, different linguistic registers, and referential worlds, these documents present a great challenge to any translator. The contributors to this volume have selectively translated chants, banners, jokes, poems, and interviews, as well as presidential speeches and military communiqués. Their practical translation work is informed by the cultural turn in translation studies and the nuanced role of the translator as negotiator between texts and cultures. The chapters focus on the relationship between transla- tion and semiotics, issues of fidelity and equivalence, creative trans- formation and rewriting, and the issue of target readership. This mature collective project is in many ways a reenactment of the new infectious revolutionary spirit in Egypt today. Translating Egypt’s Revolution The Language of Tahrir Edited by Samia Mehrez The American University in Cairo Press Cairo New York First published in 2012 by The American University in Cairo Press 113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018 www.aucpress.com Copyright © 2012 Samia Mehrez All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Dar el Kutub No. 11218/11 ISBN 978 977 416 533 7 Dar el Kutub Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mehrez, Samia Translating Egypt’s Revolution: The Language of Tahrir / Samia Mehrez. —Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2012 p. cm. ISBN 978 977 416 533 7 1. Egypt—History—1981 2. Revolutions I. Title 1 2 3 4 16 15 14 13 12 Designed by Adam el-Sehemy Printed in Egypt For Egypt: the revolutionaries and the martyrs whose creative energy, unwavering courage, and enormous sacrifice continue to inspire us all Contents Note on the Contributors ix Note on Transliteration xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction: Translating Revolution: An Open Text 1 Samia Mehrez 1. Mulid al-Tahrir: Semiotics of a Revolution 25 Sahar Keraitim and Samia Mehrez 2. Of Drama and Performance: Transformative Discourses of the Revolution 69 Amira Taha and Christopher Combs 3. Signs and Signifiers: Visual Translations of Revolt 103 Laura Gribbon and Sarah Hawas 4. Reclaiming the City: Street Art of the Revolution 143 Lewis Sanders IV 5. al-Thawra al-DaHika: The Challenges of Translating Revolutionary Humor 183 Heba Salem and Kantaro Taira 6. The Soul of Tahrir: Poetics of a Revolution 213 Lewis Sanders IV and Mark Visonà vii 7. The People and the Army Are One Hand: Myths and Their Translations 249 Menna Khalil 8. Global Translations and Translating the Global: Discursive Regimes of Revolt 277 Sarah Hawas Appendix 1 307 Appendix 2 313 Appendix 3 319 viii Contents Note on the Contributors Chris Combs has a BA in Spanish and history from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland. Early in his career, he became fluent in Brazil- ian Portuguese and developed an interest in translation. Since he began learning Arabic in 2002, Chris has spent three years living and study- ing in the Middle East, and was pursuing a graduate diploma in Middle East studies at the American University in Cairo when Egypt’s revolu- tion began. He currently serves as director of international programs at a trade association near Washington, D.C., and aims to continue working with Arabic in his career. Laura Gribbon has a first class bachelor’s degree in international develop- ment with NGO management from the University of East London. She is currently studying for an MSc in Middle East politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. Her profes- sional background is in youth and community relations, working in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on the politics of identity. Laura’s work focuses on the discovery of unheard voices and she has a keen inter- est in conveying messages through images and the non-verbal. Arriving in Cairo in early January 2011, and living close to Tahrir, Laura was often in the midan speaking to people and taking pictures. Sarah Hawas graduated from the American University in Cairo in 2011 with a BA in comparative literature. In the past, she has translated for creative writers, journalists, bloggers, and social movements in Palestine, Egypt, India, and the United Arab Emirates. Sarah is fluent in English and Arabic, with a reading knowledge of Hebrew and French. She is ix
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