Translation and Empire

Arising from cultural anthropology in the late 1980s and early 1990s, postcolonial translation theory is based on the observation that translation has often served as an important channel of empire. Douglas Robinson begins with a general presentation of postcolonial theory, examines current theories of the power differentials that control what gets translated and how, and traces the historical development of postcolonial thought about translation. He also explores the negative and positive impact of translation in the postcolonial context, reviewing various critiques of postcolonial translation theory and providing a glossary of key words. The result is a clear and useful guide to some of the most complex and critical issues in contemporary translation studies.

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Douglas Robinson (b. 1954) was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and grew up in the LA and Seattle areas. After an exchange year in Finland in 1971-1972, he did two years of undergraduate work at Linfield College and the Evergreen State College, and then returned to Finland, taking three degrees and teaching full-time as “the American lecturer” in the English department at the University of Jyvaskyla before returning in 1981 to the US to do a doctorate in English at the University of Washington (Seattle). Upon completion of his Ph.D. in 1983, he accepted an assistant professorship in American Language and Literature at the University of Tampere, Finland, and was appointed to that post permanently in 1987; he then spent two years as an assistant professor of English-Finnish Translation Theory and Practice at the same university, before accepting a professorship in English at the University of Mississippi in 1989.

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