Translation and the Margins

About the Lecture
Translation itself has been understood as the marginal ‘other’ of what one assumes as the ‘original’. How do we understand translation as a significant activity from the peripheral position it has held for quite some time? Despite translation being very crucial to the emergence and consolidation of religion, nation and other identities, how and why has translation been labelled as inauthentic? From these questions to understanding other margins that translation negotiates with; the talk will focus on how translation engages with marginalised identities especially in India, the possibilities it has opened up in the 20 th and 21 st centuries and the potential it holds for our futures.

About the Speaker
Professor Sowmya Dechamma C C teaches at the Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad. Apart from teaching Comparative Indian Literature and Cultural Discourses in Contemporary India, her research interests include Literatures of India, Translation Studies, Minority Languages and Cultural Discourse, Kodava performative cultures. She joined the Centre in 2004 and prior to teaching in the University of Hyderabad, she taught English in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
She was awarded the Fulbright Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship for 2019-20. During this Fulbright, she taught the course Modern Indian Literary Cultures and conducted research on Understanding the Modern in Queens College, City University of New York. Her articles have appeared in international journals and national newspapers. She has a book Cinemas of South India published by OUP and another book Languages of Minority is forthcoming again from OUP.