ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how concepts developed in translation studies can provide with a methodological tool kit to analyse the dynamic processes of transculturation. The concept of translation appears to be a very promising analytical tool to engage in transculturality, because it has a long history of both transfer of content and structure, as well as the negotiation of cultural difference. The chapter provides the concepts of three central theoreticians to explore their analytical value in engaging with transcultural questions: Andre Lefevere’s textual and conceptual grids; Eugene Nida’s concept of dynamic equivalence; and Lawrence Venuti’s criticism of the complementary concepts of foreignization and domestication. To explain the foreign experiences to a European audience, the Jesuits had to use known European conceptual grids. As a case study to explore the use of these translation concepts, the chapter focuses on the early modern Jesuit missionary endeavour.
