Manipulation or Censorship in Translating the History of Algeria: Dhākirat-Al-jasad as a Case Study

Abstract

This paper investigates the translation strategies used by Raphael Cohen in his English translation (2013) and Mohamed Mokeddem in his French translation (2002) of the postcolonial Algerian novel Dhākirat Al-jasad (1993) written by Ahlem Mostaghanemi. It tells the story of Algeria’s struggle against French colonialism and the socioeconomic crises it faced after independence. We attempt to elucidate how the literature of formerly colonized peoples is translated into Western languages. We apply the concept of Orientalism (Said 1978 1979) from the postcolonial theory, in addition to Gramsci’s (1971; 1992) concepts of “cultural hegemony” and “consent”.Our goal is to examine whether the two translators resorted to manipulative strategies when rendering the terms that constitute the symbols of the Algerian war of independence used in the novel, such as "shahīd” and “Mujahid”. We propose that translating postcolonial literature to a Western hegemonic culture could be used to maintain hegemony, even when the translator belongs to the source culture. Since when historical references are subject to manipulation or censorship, an inaccurate representation of history is created. Keywords: Censorship, Cultural Hegemony, Manipulation, Orientalism, Translating History