ABSTRACT
Translation involves bridging not only linguistic differences but also the differences of cultural and inter and intrasemiotic system, the bodies of knowledge and their cultural contexts in which words, concepts, and modes of expression are embedded. In the case chapter offer, translation centers on the meaning and value of Hopi pots as cultural heritage and American Indian art to both Hopi and American audiences, the ways in which value and meaning are translated, or not, across cultural borders, and practices that have interfered with translation. Translation is needed because the two parties to this communicative exchange, Hopi potters and Western consumers, speak different languages about the meaning and value of Hopi pottery. Historically, Western institutional representations, a body of knowledge to which initially contributed without access to Hopi potters views, have dominated this discourse. Fieldwork, however, provided access to Hopi meanings in the local context.
