Arab Egyptian Feminist Voices in Translation: The Case of Women and Memory Forum

Abstract

: When it comes to gender and translation research, studies are mostly done on how western women translate works of Arab women; however, very little is said about the way Arab women translate works of western women. In Egypt, the Arab Egyptian feminist scholars of Women and Memory Forum (WMF) use translation as a tool to change negative representations and perceptions of Arab women through translating scholarly material about gender into Arabic because there is a scarcity of research in Arabic language that addresses feminism and gender (Kamal, 2015). Therefore, this study aims to investigate the translation strategies used by WMF translators in order to discern the existence or lack of Arab Egyptian feminist translation approach to bridge the gap in research tackling Arabic feminist translations. The study specifically examines three ‘Readers’ from WMF’s translation project called Feminist Translations. The study examines the use of paratextual elements (foreword, preface, and footnotes), the use of translation strategies in the translation of gender-related terms, and the use of gender-fair language strategies in the target text. The study seeks to answer the following questions: How far do the textual choices and paratextual elements in WMF source and translated texts showcase the existence/or lack of a systematic approach for feminist translational parameter in Arabic? How far does the discerned Arab translational feminist approach differ from or concur with the Canadian approach? This study uses the following frameworks to examine the translation strategies used by Arab Egyptian feminist translators of WMF: