Race in Translation

This chapter argues that translated texts provide a useful means for broaching race in the world literature classroom in a structured way. By reading texts in translation, students (1) gain access to a comparative history of race; (2) learn about cross-cultural differences not only in race relations but also in how various cultures conceive of and categorize racial difference itself; and, consequently, (3) are encouraged to move outside of their existing racial paradigms, that is, to see “diversity” as diversely practiced. A study of translation also discloses the gaps between race-words in different languages, revealing the constructedness of racial designations and identities.

Here, students read the frame narrative of the 1001 Nights, where the sheikh’s wife has sex with a black slave, in three different translations. A framework is proposed for approaching these texts, in which students are asked to deduce their chronological order and speculate on which translation is the most “accurate.” Once students have analyzed the various depictions of race, gender, and sexuality in each text, more historical context is given for the three translations. Comparison of these three translations disabuses students very quickly of the idea that translation is a neutral act of finding “accurate” linguistic “equivalents.”