Translations of Modern Egypt's Constitutions Kayla Sivak-Reid [email protected]
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Macalester College DigitalCommons@Macalester College Classics Honors Projects Classics Department Spring 4-2016 Tracing a State and its Language from Province to Republic: Translations of Modern Egypt's Constitutions Kayla Sivak-Reid [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/classics_honors Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Sivak-Reid, Kayla, "Tracing a State and its Language from Province to Republic: Translations of Modern Egypt's Constitutions" (2016). Classics Honors Projects. Paper 22. http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/classics_honors/22 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Classics Department at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Classics Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tracing a State and its Language from Province to Republic: Translations of Modern Egypt’s Constitutions Kayla Sivak-Reid Classics Honors Thesis Macalester College Professor Wessam Elmeligi April 2016 Sivak-Reid Acknowledgements This project could not have been completed without the help and support of faculty and staff at Macalester College and that of my family, friends, and peers. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor Professor Wessam Elmeligi, for teaching me most of what I know in Arabic today and for always encouraging me to push myself linguistically. His support, guidance, and editing throughout this translation project has been a necessity for my successful completion of this ألف شكر لك .Honors. I cannot thank him enough On this note, I would also like to thank Professor Andy Overman for supporting me, being an advisor for my academic and professional careers for the past four years, and for helping me complete the first of these translations in the Capstone course. My thanks also go to Professor Beth Severy-Hoven and the Classics Department as a whole for giving me the opportunity to achieve this academic milestone, and to Herta Pitman for all of the organizing she has done on my behalf and for the entire department. Thank you also to Professor Patrick Schmidt for your feedback on this project, particularly for your insights in helping to produce a clearer and more topically accurate English translation. My endless gratitude goes to my ever-loving, inspiring, and supportive parents. You have never ceased to believe in me and inspire me to aim higher. Words cannot express how thankful I am for all that you have done and sacrificed for me so that I can be here and thrive in this incredible institution for higher learning. For similar reasons, I would like to thank all of my family, friends, and Gavin McNeely for supporting me along the way both in this project and in all other endeavors. 2 Sivak-Reid Table of Contents Title Page ................................................................................................................1 Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................2 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................3 Abstract ...................................................................................................................4 Introduction ............................................................................................................5 Chapter One: 1923 Constitution ..........................................................................8 Background ..........................................................................................................8 Translation ..........................................................................................................10 Findings in Summary .........................................................................................35 Chapter Two: 1956 Constitution ........................................................................40 Background ........................................................................................................40 Translation ..........................................................................................................43 Findings in Summary .........................................................................................70 Chapter Three: 1971 Constitution .....................................................................76 Background ........................................................................................................76 Translation ..........................................................................................................79 Findings in Summary .......................................................................................113 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................116 Bibliography .......................................................................................................117 3 Sivak-Reid Abstract The driving question behind this translation project is whether translating Egypt’s constitutions from their original Arabic into English aids in comprehension of linguistic and contextual meaning of the texts. From my experience, I found that reading the constitutions in Arabic and translating them into English provided much greater insight into both Arabic language and Egypt’s history than did reading the constitutions in their English versions. I also found that including relevant contextual or linguistic findings from translating and from supplementary research improved the translation overall. Existing English translations of Egypt’s constitutions lack historical context or explanations for selecting one word rather than its synonym, which is unhelpful considering existing Arabic versions and English translations often contain errors. The purposes of my translators notes throughout this project are twofold: (1) transparency in the translation process and (2) highlighting contextualized meaning that a reader may overlook by reading the existing Arabic or English translations alone. 4 Sivak-Reid Introduction This project seeks to find whether or not translating Egypt’s 1923, 1956, and 1971 Constitutions from their original Arabic into English aids in comprehension of the text. In attempting to provide evidence of my hypothesis that translating in the original language does in fact aid in comprehension, I have included significant linguistic findings1 in the footnotes, introductory, and summary sections of each chapter. This project also aimed to document why certain translations were chosen, particularly those that were influenced by or that inspired contextual findings through research or the act of translation itself. Completion of this project’s goal of explicating more confusing or vague parts of each constitution also necessitated some additional research to grasp the political and historical contexts that help explain the meanings of particularly cryptic or allusive articles. Where additional research was required to comprehend the meaning or context of a specific article, I have included this information in translators notes featured in the footnotes sections of this piece. The particular Arabic in these constitutions is both highly political and, in some cases, outdated. Translation of the constitutions therefore necessitated learning new and subject-specific vocabulary. It also meant making tougher decisions on the proper translation of certain words or phrases. The verdict on what word or phrase to choose when there were many possible translations was often made with consideration of the political, economic, social, or historical 1 My finding that translating in the original Arabic does aid in comprehension might also be influenced by the amount of time and focus spent on reading, which is naturally greater than when reading in my native English. Therefore, this thesis is not a very empirical study, but rather mostly a qualitative analysis of a few particular cases. 5 Sivak-Reid context, and the ultimate decision when confronted with multiple definitions often required verification with the project advisor. Some research behind this project was also intended specifically to place each constitution in its respective context. This information is featured primarily in the beginning section of each chapter before the start of the translation of the constitution itself. It involves light analysis on the history directly preceding or during the time of the constitution. Therefore these sections rely on works by scholars or journalists of Egyptian history, politics, society or economy. Because the 1923 Constitution is the first of its kind in establishing the modern Egyptian state, the contextual analysis of this constitution is related to Egypt’s revolution and secession from the Ottoman Empire. It is also focused on explaining the origins of some of the concepts and content behind the articles that contributed to the construction of this new monarchy. The following two chapters about the 1956 and 1971 Constitutions contain introductory sections which are by nature more cumulative in that the analysis can place each constitution not only within the context of is immediate past and present but also in relation to the preceding constitution(s). Because the 1923 and 1956 Constitutions resulted in entirely different political systems their contents are