rsBN1 -900650-84-3 llülillIlll[ffi1ilil Meanings of rranslationin cultural Anthropology DORIS BACHMANN-MEDICK GoettingenBerlin, Germany

Translatedby Kate Sturge

Abstract: Transrationbetween curtures can be considereda centrarprac_ tice qnd aim of curturar anthroporogt. But are the m'anings of curturar trqnsrqtionconfined '"urturor to urürrtanding,? A h')rmeneutic seems position to imprya commitmentto a trqditionar:singre_sited,anthroporogy qnd does not correspondto the charengesof grobatization.A ,murti_ ionqt anthropoto g1t i, a"ia iili;, jiff.,at öä' ä- or t",not iv e type of Fo'owing a brief account of the dffirent meaningsoJ.transration the histoty.ofc-urturar in anthropoiloglt,^y "rroy to"ot"r"tn" postcoroniar emergenceof a charengeto this newqnthropoiogicar trqnsrationconcept in an epistemorogicarbreak; the crisisof representationand thequestioning o.fa uniraterar westerntrqnsration authority. TransrationoJ.and between curturesis no ronger the centrarconcept, iu, "utiul"-)uerf conceptuarize_d is now being as a processof transration. q As resurt,transration can be definedas a dynamic term of iuttural encounteti^ o n"g**rion ences ofdiffer_ as yelr as a dfficurt process of transformqtion. in tnrs respect,the noversof sa.rmanRushdie qre eye-openersfora newmetaphor ofmigration as transration,which renders transrationinto a mediut) o/.dßpracement and hybrid serf-transration. The cqtegory of transration thus offers anthroporogynot onryan important for 'the arternativeto dichotomousconcepts tike crashof civilizatiois', but it is arso ,;";;:;;,;nrohic indicator t:;,;:!:*ing anthropotogyunder the condifio;;.oj'o gonoruoüon of

"It is reportedthat when pepsi-cola enteredthe soft drinks keyed its market in Thailand, it advertisingcampaign to its well_l vou.''"intr'e ref si i"*.uir*; rn" "o,"p unf, to the problematical :xt;ää:liä: Ji:::l;;?ffi , 1';l."; Thai translationoi-that slogan: .pepsi back from brings yo'r ancestors the dead'' The incident i.-" gäprric languages reminderthat äsration across is translation acrosscultures. it i. th" act of translationas a commit_ sat the heart orthe ais ä"#-ffi 1*?i#*ä:Tffi J::li ciprine or anthroporo g;.,' Thesesentences on-the tät" unttropology department,swebsite (2003) the promotion of introduce its anthropologyp.o;;;ä". The mistranslation websiteur".-ri" embarrassing of an aavertling"sl;g; r;;i;re .translation acrosscultures, at the J4 Translating Others Vol. I Bachmann-lu.

heart of the anthropologicaldiscipline. Yet in its substance,this quotationactually betweencult saysvery little about the meaningsof translationin anthropology.Even more sur- not simply a prisingly, the translationexample is drawn from the contextof globally networked lem for trans consumption,and not from the traditional anthropologyof locatedarea studies,a importantly, spheresurely much closer to a hermeneuticsof culturalunderstanding. Nevertheless, - haveto be "translation that traditional anthropologyis what is being evokedby the allusionto of a Westen as a commitmentto cultural understanding".The referencealso uncritically carries and actionsi with it the whole, problematichistory of the translationof othercultures through the ethnographir interpretivepower of Westemanthropology. This relapseinto a simple,harmony-based form" (1988 notionoftranslation is peculiar,especially since the currentconditions ofglobalization, Added t< with their transnationalconnections and hybrid creolizations,throw down quite other comparative 'cultural translationalchallenges - challengesthat require not so much understanding' flict, hierarcl asstrategies ofcultural encounteror thenegotiation ofdifferences. culturesma1 Is this to saythat Yale's anthropology department is not at the forefrontof reflection a Westerncr on translationin culturalanthropology? certainly, it doesnot seemto be pursuingan mustitselfb, active,agency-oriented reinterpretation or a local appropriationofglobal phenomena. and epistem It doesnot placetranslation within the field of tensionof culturaldifferences, yet it culturesis cl is preciselythose differences, of course,that triggercritical counter-movements to tionshipsof the dominant,marketing-oriented translational strategies or * as in the caseof Pepsi Consider Cola- prompttranslational resistance to a seamlesslocal assimilationof globalgoods. the 1920so Throughits contradictorypositioning of translation,the Yale introductionthus casts studiesand its own conceptionof anthropologyinto doubt:while that conceptionexemplifies (Wernerand globalopening, its reductionistview of translationis alsoa closingdown. It is a view tion of whol 'multi-sited', of translationthat looksunlikely to managethe leapto a transnational Malinowski anthropologyof the world system(Marcus 1995).on the contrary revertingto the ings - in ten 'single-sited' traditionof a anthropologycan only meanthat the illusionof cultural the function understandingis perpetuated.In this essayI hopeto showthat, in fact, culturalunder- notion of a 'commitments'of standingis only oneof themany meanings or translationin cultural positionin I - anthropology and not eventhe one that's most relevantto present-dayconditions. l97l festscl I will focushere on a paradigmshift and its preconditions:the move from the (Beidelman anthropologicalcritique of representationtowards a more comprehensivecultural paradigmati critique.That is, a changefrom the questioningof translationalauthority - which still 13lff.).Hor dependson a bipolarnotion of translation- towardsa moredynamic, multi-layered notionsof ri andsubversive understanding of'culture astranslation'. In otherwords, I am inter- tions of trar estedin anepistemological rupture which seemsto be crucialfor thereorientation of otherways r culturalanthropology and its openingup to a critical studyof glob alization.wemight objective,la "What adaptthe well-known question asked by Clifford Geerrz, happens to verstehen of rationalit wheneiffihlen disappears"?(Geertz I 983: 56) - in otherwords, what happensto the Theseex 'from anthropologicalideal of empatheticunderstanding, thenative's point of view', tendsfar be' oncewe have abandonedthe notion of a close,transcultural identification with the examplescr "what peoplestudied? happensto verstehenwheneinfiihlen disappears"? well, what 2004);inste happensto translationwhen culturalunderstanding disappears? standardso1 'global Evenlooking at thebackground to the recent turn'in anthropology(Inda to call into c and Rosaldo2002), it is clearly misleadingto narrow translationdown to 'cultural the critique understanding'.If cultural anthropologyembodies knowledge of translationof and debatesince TranslatingOthers Vol.I Bachmann-Medick:Meanings of Translation in Cultural Anthropologt 35

e, this quotationactually betweencultures (without necessarilyhaving reflectedon the fact), that is certainly 'cultural opology.Even more sur- not simply a matterof understanding'.Instead, we know that a major prob- ,xt of globally networked lem for translationin cultural anthropologyis the way the languagesand, even more :f locatedarea studies, a importantly,the ways of thinking of other cultures- especiallythose outside Europe 'translated' .erstanding.Nevertheless, - haveto be into the languages,the categoriesand the conceptualworld te allusionto "translation of a Westernaudience. The difficulty also arisesfrom the fact that oral discourses e alsouncritically carries and actionsare transportedinto a fixed, written form - as JamesClifford hasput it, "writing rthercultures through the ethnographic includes,minimally, a translationof experienceinto textual l a simple,harmony-based form" (1988:25). onditionsof globalization, Added to that, anthropology,as a scienceof cultural comparison,works with is,throw down quite other comparativeterms and analytic conceptssuch as kinship, ritual, power, social con- h'cultural understandins' flict, hierarchy,religion andmany more.The problemis that the translationof other .terences. culturesmay be furtherdistorted by describingindigenous conceptualizations within I theforefront ofreflection a Westemconceptual system. And on yet anotherlevel, anthropologicaltranslation of seemto be pursuingan mustitself be viewedas a specificcultural practice, bound up with specificdiscursive lionof globalphenomena. and epistemologicalenvironments such as colonialismand orientalism.Translating :ulturaldifferences, yet it culturesis closelyintermeshed with powerrelations, and thus in mostcases with rela- ralcounter-movements to tionshipsof cultural inequality(see Tymoczko and Gentzler2002; Niranj ana1992). r - asin thecase o f Pepsi Consideringthis extremelybroad horizon, it was only a very first stepwhen, from rimilationof globalgoods. the 1920sonwards, American cultural anthropologybegan to carry out empirical Lleintroduction thus casts studiesand translationsof other languages,especially Native American languages "transla- rt conceptionexemplifi es (Wernerand Campbell 1973:398). This is alsothe casewith Malinowski's closingdown. It is a view tion of whole contexts"(1966:1lff.). Facedwith the problemof translatingmagic, nulti-sited',transnational Malinowski respondedby calling for a far greatercontextualization of culturalmean- contraryreverting to the ings - in termsboth of moral or aestheticvalues and of specificsituational contexts, ratthe illusion of cultural the functionsof words, activities,interests and speechacts. From the 1950son, this rat,in fact,cultural under- notion of a comprehensivetranslation of culturestook up an increasinglycentral s' of translationin cultural positionin British socialanthropology (see Asad 1986).It is no coincidencethat the o present-dayconditions. l97l festschrift for Edward Evans-Pritchardis entitled The Translationof Culture 'translational tions:the move from the (Beidelman1971). This turn' was set in motion by Evans-Pritchard's "a e comprehensivecultural paradigmatictranslation dilemma: the Nuer claim that twin is a bird" (1957: rnalauthority - which still l31ff.). How can this be translatedinto Europeanlanguages and their incompatible e dynamic,multi-layered notionsof rationality?The issueprompted a debateon the epistemologicalfounda- n otherwords, I am inter- tions oftranslation in anthropology,and on the intelligibility and translatabilityof ial for thereorientation of other ways of thinking in general.It is a debatethat questionsthe assumptionof an rf globalization.We might objective,language-independent reality and implicitly criticizesuniversalist criteria Vhathappens to verstehen of rationality (seeWinch 1964). 'ords,what happens to the Theseexamples should be enoughto indicatethat anthropologicaltranslation ex- 'cultural renative's point of view', tendsfar beyondjust understanding'(for more historicaland contemporary ral identificationwith the examplesconcerning the role of translationin anthropologysee Bachmann-Medick ndisappears"? Well, what 2004);instead, it directscritical attentionto the cultural universalizationof Westem eaxs? standardsofrationality, objectivity and logic. From there,it is not a very large step rn' in anthropology(Inda to call into questionthe dominanceof Europeantranslational authority. Arising from 'writing slation down to 'cultural the critique of representationin what has becomeknown as the culture' :dseof translationof and debatesince the 1980s(see Clifford andMarcus 1986), the move has also opened up 36 Translating Others Vol.I Bac hmann - Medick: Meanir

translation studies and cultural theory to the factor of powcr and interpretive a polyphony of translation ar.rthority. to the forms of cultural rt This discourseon the rclationship betweencultural translationand representation forms that are located in cu "Any of the Other (Bachmann-Medick1997) deserves a brief mentionhcre, since it offers Horni Bhabha: transt impofiant basic principlcs for contcmporary concerxs around cultural globalization specifically, what decentrr with its world-widc circulation of symbols and images and, of course, also con- Influenced by postcok frcntations of symbols and images.Thus, as part of the linguistic and rhetorical turn new conceptsand new no 'writing in ethnologyand in the culture'debate,translation was no longerconsidered globalized world of relat 'faithfr"rlness'to 'original'. merely undcr the categoryof an Instead,it took on the (ShalirriRanderia) betwee valuc of a medium through which spccific representationalconventions and a specific cxample, investigatehow authorityin cultural mediationestablish themselves. Ethnographic descriptions are tice arc translatedinto the - themsclvesinterpreting translationswith the statusof independenttexts texts that cultures. An exampie wc make use of rhetorical strategics,tropes, metaphors and so on. Here, the category intensireprocess of nati of translationgains a new emphasis,inasmuch as anthropologicalpractice itself can 2000). In caseslike these, bc r-rnderstoodas a creativeprocess of translationthat synthesizes,and thus virtually dubiousone into global 'invcnts', unified cultural entities(Sperber 1993). As a result,cultural translation is lrorn quiteother directior to a large extent cultr-rralconstruction. to indigenous reception 'crisis The insight has promptedwhat has often beencalled a of representation' indigenouspeople themst a crisisthat alsoopens up new analyticalperspectives. On the one hand,criticizing indigenouspopulation, nc 'translation the rhctoric of rcpresentationbrings us to the phenomenonof a without Central to all theseva an original'. This is sonrethingthat ariscswhen signsand symbolstake on a life of multi-layercdnessand ove thcir own in the global circulationof representations,so thattranslation now appears forccs us to expandthe nr as lust a represcntationofrepresentations. On the otherhand,this kind offocns also as translation'.The form presentsthc opportunity to reflect on the limitations of a holistic understandingof categoryof translationis culturc, and to work towards replacing a territorially defined notion of culturc with a argue that this is precisel, nlore dynatnic versiotr.A new, transnationalethnography is clearly characterizedby seemsto be caston the 1o "going what Gisli Pälsson( 1993)calls a bcyond boundaries".It cannothelp raising Lrnified entity, responsiblt questionsabor-rt power relationshipsand cultural hierarchies, thus shifting our interest postcolonialand globr "politics of to thc of translating(Third World) cultures"(Dingwaney 1995:3). hybrid lield of translatror 'cultural At this crucial moment of epistemologicalrupture, the idea of understand- idea that managedto sutr, ing' astranslation's central comn.ritment will havebcgun to seemf-ar too harmonious. Rather,cultures constitutr - Firstly,that is becauseof the inevitable and I think often productive misunderstand- they shouldbe viewedas ing bctweencultures, whcre we needto ask much more insistentlyabout the role of senseHomi Bhabhanotes translationin resolvingsuch situations. It is not culturaltranslation's success but its 2138).For a transnationalr fäilurcs that offcr the greaterand more interestingchallenge for cultural anthropology anti-essentialistand anti- 'translation which appliesto the Pepsicase as well, by thc way.Secondly, ascultural discursivel'onns and resis undcrstanding'hasto be radically qucstionedin view of the repressionof minority within a society.This tran culturesand marginalizedlanguages, and of the asymmetriesand one-sidednessof the notion of culturetowa ethnography'sclaim to translatein a culturally undcrstandingway. cultr-rraldifferences, and , A postcolonialanthropology can no longerdo without a politicisationof the meta- Theseare the new ke phor of cuituraltranslation. Its epistemologicaldoubts are embedded in thc fact that tlreory.Tlrey help concep translationusually takes place between unequal societies. Even a critically distanced space'("by cxploring th translationis subjectto the inequalityof languages,that is, to the global hierarchy cnrcrge as the others of r betweenorality and literacy and the power gap betweenlanguages of the First and the through the expcriencer justicc Third World.To do to this statcof afläirsin a global,post-national world, only idcntity. In view of al 'anslating OthersVol. I Bachmann-Medick:Meanings of Translation in Cultural Anthropologt 37

'w€r äfld interpretive a polyphonyof translationwould be enough.Here, attention is turningmore and more to the forms of cultural resistanceto transnationaltranslating and being-translated, ion andrepresentation formsthat are located in culturallyspecific practices and regional resistances. To quote otranslate', onhere, since it offers Homi Bhabha:"Any transnationalcultural studymust eachtime locally and culturalglobalization specifically,what decentresand subvertsthis transnationalglobality" (1994:24I). [, of course,also con- Influencedby postcolonialtheory today's anthropology,too, has learnedto use itic andrhetorical tum new conceptsand new notionsof translationas a way of engagingnot only with the 'entangled l no longerconsidered globalizedworld of relations of consumption,but also with histories' nstead,it took on the (ShaliniRanderia) between cultures. An ethnographyof culturalencounter might, for yentionsand a specific example,investigate how Westernconcepts, ideas of society,or evenmodels of prac- aphicdescriptions are tice aretranslated into themodernization and transformation process of non-European Ldenttexts - texts that cultures.An examplewould be Shingo Shimada'sexploration of the translation- rn.Here, the category intensiveprocess of national identity constructionin Japanesesociety (Shimada ical practiceitself can 2000).In caseslike these,translation becomes an entranceticket - often a more than zes,and thus virtually dubiousone - into global culture.However, cultural negotiation may comeinto play culturaltranslation is from quite other directions,such as the recentopening up ofcultural anthropology to indigenousreception - to a critical back-translationof ethnographictexts by the isis of representation' indigenouspeople themselves. This is occurringon the basisof a discoursewith the e onehand, criticizing indigenouspopulation, not a discourseabout them (Gottowik 1998). a'translationwithout Centralto all thesevariations on the theme of translationis the insight into the nbolstake on a life of multi-layerednessand overlapping of differentcultures, affiliations and identities. This 'culture anslationnow appears forcesus to expandthe notion ofculture beyondholistic restrictions:hence thiskind of focusalso as translation'.The formulation alone indicateshow, in cultural anthropology,the istic understandingof categoryof translationis becomingincreasingly metaphorical. But I would like to otionof culturewith a arguethat this is preciselywhat gives it suchpolitical momentum.Ever more doubt earlycharacterizedby seemsto be caston the long-lived anthropologicalidea of cultureas a completeand It cannothelp raising unified entity,responsible for securingtradition and identity. Especiallyin the light usshifting our interest of postcolonialand global configurations,culture is coming to be understoodas a mey1995:3). hybrid field oftranslation processes.It is notjust that culturesare translatable- an f'culhral understand- ideathat managedto survivefor a very long time with the help of cultural semiotics. m far too harmonious. Rather,cultures constitute themselves ln translationand as translation.That is to say, :tive - misunderstand- they shouldbe viewed as the componentsor resultsof translationprocesses. In this "both :ntly aboutthe role of senseHomi Bhabhanotes that cultureis transnationaland translational" (1992: ation'ssuccess but its 438). For a transnationalcultural anthropology, cultural translation can thus act as an culturalanthropology anti-essentialistand anti-holisticmetaphor that aims to uncovercounter-discourses, 'translation as cultural discursiveforms and resistant actions within actlttxq heterogeneousdiscursive spaces 'hybridity', epressionof minority within a society.This kanslatednessof cultures,often referred to as shifts andone-sidedness of the notion of culturetowards a dynamicconcept of cultureas a practiceof negotiating way. cultural differences,and ofcultural overlap,syncretism and creolization. Lticisationof the meta- Theseare the new key terms of contemporarypostcolonially informed cultural 'third rcddedin the fact that theory.They help conceptuallyto processoscillating relationships in a kind of r a critically distanced space'("by exploring this Third Space,we may elude the politics of polarity and r the global hierarchy emergeas the othersof our selves",Bhabha 1994: 39), themselvesonly emerging 3esof theFirst andthe through the experienceof multiple cultural affiliation and layered- if not broken t-nationalworld, only - identity. In view of all this, cultural anthropologyshould be taking up a more 38 Tt.an.slating Others ltol. I Bachmann-Medi

concrete transrationaltask, which I wouldlike to outrinein Firsrlv'bv tairoring tl_: threepolnts. ortiunrruuonr" quiddity now hi withrhe worrd order, ::"r"ry th;;i;äionditions associated I migrationanä the networking selfand otherct "grobar "f .";r;;;ion paduraicars _ whatAriunAo_ .thnor.up.r;';ä" o-r,riri"r"i"ri,J*, Now to my r - curturaranrhroporogy flows,,(rggr: "unujar"r, iri"ri,o grouur ß)\ cultural anthropt " ,y.ior,.',""nor, to a circuratron T:::lXä llli i:"i b..i ; * uir, un,r,o." a associatedwith acti ff ,ffi ;; m."":*: principle of dic onan da ri re practi ce,h i.h within b;;;;;Jä:HJ:ö:TIffi äi,?tr;i,äH:Tl the histor but"r;""G ' Ä.,.n,. oran anthropology. Tr l,'"f;l,öfmilruru';:***:ns, insigrrt prognosesofa ,c t:?:i.,,'Jl;';:f""0"* p"utt'a'to ä;::iä'il.".Xll'i;Ll,XI#""'i:',"r1ff1; and dichotomy o morecornpre", r'"'"ä*"auv, u..o." of SeptemberI 1t o"ili"',1111T:::*Iffii[T.il'J;J""' .u.1,' in the United St Thework ofAryLrnAppadurai hasrhorn n howthe globar and of oppositio esand slogans - and, circuratronof goods,imag_ espe.iurry,oif.of " unoio"ntitles - This kind of hegr ofanthroporogv. It isa conceptionthat hasled tr reratestorrr" n.rl";".ä'_"_äJ';1ffiffi: anthropology.In anar.agin"Jiommunities interconnections, 'lransnation"ii1ilil'TJll'il1?l;#tit:#**ffi :,"T,yo.k, whose culhlral translatit i'""*i"",run,'arsohi";, ;;,{iiäJfi:';"?:i"fr:"ii;t.*n;ji:i good and the evil tr'"-vtr', o?,äui-,.or" societ-y,as underlie this Mar rei"i:ä'.l"T?J:'ffif#:i:ä11"[il,[J:";;'t*"rr u s s of being'in-betw omet; ;ä "r,::lai,p ru" ",,"n wider spaces rarvworrd" (reel:202). t ;,;;:Hi;;:": :ff Ti:;:i,lT;:?"T,::i;:: for a rhis ki"d "r;;;;i"ji";;;;;;:d1,., ships betweentrat notreceived enough attention ancrgenres has withincultural *.tfr-p"fogylää,ro 1989)- and,espe rt is clearhow u""".r,r-'.a pemeate the life_ ä'j',',1;J,$T:3,rJ):*""vourcan by;;;;;;""äi],;"",,rike Sarman HerFeet (1s99.)'il;t;it This is a kind c on rrreway transrat ,;1?^":""'o irk.,h"rl u.. "u"-o'"n"., "t#:;:':|fi at the start.It addr lällf ff::'.:L:i'"'J,',ü:xffi sffi in thrall to the cre il*fl ü:*.1*J,.ä:.,i;.rheirmigration Rushdierather tha bccomesan acr of tre:1,111^Totl*demigrateviaBritainioil;t" whichthe novel describ.r to a marketing-ol of rimrnarspaces a.,'ntlutton' lik. ;-;i;ar sequence,furl nothing other thar '*1#eätTT+;;;":Tt,fl:::*ffil:#:t#; would havebeen a ng lmage active,conflict-cot Iaden,*p:ln**vffitransformatory of translationas a reslstance- act. would then This brings be son into praya culturaranthropology spearheaded of translationthat,s I would iike to, bv riterature.rn Rushdie's cunentlvbeing ;;;;:';""#tilt:":llit'rat jeast,the process ceptually oriented metaphorizatr""i, "i"uärr;#,-lH::l:j::l"l:' or transiation i weigh up their cha rt".:u.*d;;';:ä;1*l-,*,ilt,y3j;y,;lll,i,ff hegenronizedglobr mrgrants'1',t"fNo talk of "cu.rtural unaeÄtandin,rr,.." _ ,:.#J#*TjJ*i we cling to the -",,.;;*;; instead,it i, ,r_,o.t,displacernent old ;:i,'iälliäT'.äil,,ll': "i.'",.,o,',says Rushdie, wehave ..a agarn: What happt of ffansfotmation" enrerecr disappears? phosesvia dispracem.Lon riuto';+är). sr.rr'"rä'u"t.nt metamor- in theprotagonist .,in raherwith - t*o ,o.tJlil" ltT|lt onnus,who tives - or I jt"J"*:,,trjTlr:: SeeDraper's contrib enormous ;i,ill,ffi ::itt""in",;;;;ficonsequencesfbrö:i;lilfl .:ffii Violenceas Language cultLrrarp"r;il.J.'e"r when";t" ;"i"d";s to the orher lation is developedagz rnediato translategeol nslatingOthers Vol. I Bachmann-Medick:Meanings of Translation in Cultural Anthropologt 39 e points. quiddity now haveblurry edges"(ibid.: 388), easyborders and exclusionsbetween onditionsassociated selfandother cease to be an option. ion-whatArjunAp- Now to my third point. Theseissues open up anotherperspective on a changed 11flows"(1991: 192) culturalanthropology, in thatthe reorientation ofanthropological translation is closely rrlds,to a circulation associatedwith an epistemologicalrupture. I refer to the break with the dominant l anchored. principle of dichotomy in perceptionsof the Other - a principle that took shape a form ofexistential within the history of colonialismand its complicity with the emergenceof modern ontextsof migration. anthropology.To seethat this principle still holds today,we need only look at the 'clash Lesense of an insight prognosesof a of civilizations'(Huntington 1996) and the associatedbipolarity aretranslated men" anddichotomy of the USA s world-orderideologies, further reinforced by the events ureand another. But of SeptemberI I th, 2001. I would just mentionhere the trend,currently predominant ,adaysbecome even in the United States,towards an imperial translationwhere all forms of violence, 'terrorism'.r and of oppositionprepared to contemplateviolence, are translatedas üionof goods,imag- This kind of hegemonictranslation practice is part of the challengefaced by cultural 'hybrid' to anewconception anthropology.In line with its understandingof cultural configurationsand l-wide relationships interconnections,anthropology can pit its insights on the multi-polar characterof 'us'and communitieswhose culturaltranslation against the fossilizeddichotomy of the enemies,of the radurai'sconcept of goodand the evil; it canuse concrete analyses to uncoverthe culturalascriptions that r of anthropological underliethis Manicheanconstruction. That includesmaking greateruse of the state 'in-between'as rall-scalesociety, as of being a specialsource of anthropologicalknowledge. It opensup rry literaryfantasies wider spacesfor a reciprocityin translationprocesses, by payingattention to relation- 'writing :y in the contempo- shipsbetween translations and to back-translation- or back' (Ashcroft et al. linesand genres has 1989)- and,especially, by alertingus to the ambivalentacts of self-translationthat d yet it is clearhow permeatethe life-world practicesof migration. Lnovelslike Salman This is a kind of perspectivethat cannotbe generatedby theYale example I quoted .eseare eye-openers at the start.It addressedonly a one-dimensionalaxis oftranslation- an approachstill existentialprocess. in thrall to the credoof bipolarity. If the Yale websitehad drawn on the exampleof ingersOrmus Cama Rushdierather than Pepsi, it would not havereduced the project of culturaltranslation rica.Theirmigration to a marketing-orientedstrategy of cultural adaptationthat, in the end, amountsto 'McDonaldization', ritualsequence, full nothing other than a homogenization,a of the world. Rather,it nt. Here,translation would havebeen able to expandthe translationalproject to both analyseand promote 'commitment airresistanceduring active, conflict-consciouscultural self-translation.The of translation' tionas a resistance- would then be somethingakin to culturalnegotiation or cultural transformation. I would like to closeby summarizingand looking forward.The recent,more con- Lat'scurrently being ceptuallyoriented positions of anthropologicaltranslation may seemutopian if we ;essof translation's weigh up their chancesof being realizedin the light of the world systemand today's licularbythe radical hegemonizedglobal politics. But the accusationof utopianismapplies even more if 'cultural lationexperience of we cling to the old model of culturaltranslation as understanding'.So, once ihock,displacement again: What happensto translationin anthropologywhen cultural understanding we haveentered "a disappears? nbivalentmetamor- "in - , who lives or I 'Problems ndcultural transfer, SeeDraper's contribution to the 2002 Duke University colloquium on of Translation: Violence as Languagewithin Global Capital'. Here, an anti-imperial or fragmentedmode of trans- :anslation. "used This has lation is developedagainst the dominant imperial mode of translation by the stateand major ndowsto the other media to translate geopolitical events into an American framework" (Draper 2002). 40 Translating Others Vol. I Bachmann-Medicl

Thecategory of translationoffers aprofoundly sensitive indicator of anthropology's (eds.), Berkele' own transformationinto an anthropologyof globalrelations. Translation serves more Ashcroft, Bill, Gr and more to generaterelations; less and lessto essentializeand 'close off' cultures Back: Theory and culturaldifferences by meansof understanding:The function of translation Routledge. Bachmarur-Medicl is enhancedsince it is no longerpracticed in theprimary dualistic'them - us' Berlin: Erich S frameof conventionalethnography but requiresconsiderably more nuancing ------(200a) 'Kult and shadingas the practiceof translationconnects the severalsites that the duction. Ein in researchexplores along unexpectedand evendissonant fractures of social Handbook ofT location(Marcus 1995: 100). traduction, An Koller, JosdLz Translationis now becominga conceptof relationshipand movement, in a way that I 55-65. 'travellerbetween takespalpable, spatial shape in Rushdie'smetaphor ofthe migrantas ------(2006) Culn" worlds'. Here, Rushdieis illustrating a notion of translationas travel - or travel as Rowohlt. translation- to which JamesClifford gavetheoretical form in his original 1997study Beidelman, Thom Routes:Travel and Translationin the Late TwentiethCentury. This re-conceptionis Pritchard,Lor yet anotherproduct ofthe new pathsofenquiry openedup by culturalanthropology's Bhabha, Homi K. increasinglydynamic view of culture.It's a view thatprivileges cultural contacts and Transformatio, 'people border crossingsby in transit'abovethe investigationand understandingof (eds.),NewYt sealed-off,unified cultural entities. Here, the momentof articulationI discussedearlier --- Q99\ The) in this article,between representation (or construction)and cultural critique, becomes Clifford, James( "on especiallyproductive. James Clifford locateshis own work the borderbetween Twentieth-Cen an anthropologyin crisis and an emergingtransnational cultural studies"(ibid.: 8). (Mass.) and Lr 'intermediate It is preciselyhere that a fruitful space'seems to emerge,hand in hand ------(1997)Rout with a new understandingof - evena paradigmshift in - translation:the traditional (Mass.) and Lr hermeneuticclaim is being replacedby a pragmaticattention to cultural networks ------and George andentanglements. Cultural translation is boundto appearwithin the horizonof what nography,Ber "translational Emily Apter callsa transnationalism"(2001: 5). Dingwaney, Anru Yet one fundamentalquestion remains: what is there,in the end, "at the heartof BetweenLang "act the disciplineof anthropology"?Presumably no longerthe of translationas com- Dingwaney ar mitmentto culturalunderstanding"; perhaps instead - so GeorgeMarcus - "the work Press,3-15. of comparativetranslation and tracingamong sites, which I suggestedwere basicto Draper,Jack (200. 'Problems ' the methodologyof multi-sitedethnography" (1995:111). or might therebe even of further-reaching,pragmatic acts of translationas cultural encountersin intercultural Evans-Pritchard, contactzones, as cultural critique and as a concretemanagement of cultural differ- Geertz, Clifford encesthat is readyto acceptconflict? thropological Anthropologt References Gottowik, Volker Texte',inFlgr 'Global Breger and Tc Appadurai,Arjun (1991) Ethnoscapes:Notes and Queriesfor a Transnational Huntington, Sam Anthropology'in RecapturingAnthropologlt: Workingin the Present,Richard G. 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