History and translation

Abstract

My work has long focused on the historical relationship between language and power in imperial, national and post-colonial settings, primarily in the Philippines under Spanish, American and Republican regimes, as well as in post-9/11 United States. These concerns are reflected in my books: Contracting Colonialism (1988); White Love and Other Events in Filipino History (2000); The Promise of the Foreign (2005); and in my forthcoming book, Motherless Tongues: The Insurgency of Language amid Wars of Translation. In all cases, translation has provided me with ways to critically engage a range of historical phenomenon: Christian conversion, nationalist literature and revolution, popular theater, colonial census, war photography, digital technology, street slang, overseas workers, authoritarian politics, the "global wars on terror", among others. The role of translation in historical studiesVicente Rafael responds to questions (in italics) posed by Christopher Rundle. The role of translationAs a historian you are unusual in that translation plays a central role both in your research but also as a key concept in your thinking.I didn't start out doing Translation Studies. Rather, I stumbled upon the topic when I was doing research for my dissertation on the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. I was very interested then, as I still am, in doing something like a history from below.Nearly all of the scholarship on Spanish colonization, especially in the early modern period, was written using Spanish language sources, most especially missionary accounts. Rundle, Christopher & Vicente Rafael (2016) "History and translation. The event of language". In Border Crossings. Translation Studies and other disciplines, edited by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer. [Benjamins