|
" Introducing Passing into Arabic Through Translation: "
Alahmari, Ahmad K.
Pettid, Michael J.
| Document Type
|
:
|
Latin Dissertation
|
| Language of Document
|
:
|
English
|
| Record Number
|
:
|
1107790
|
| Doc. No
|
:
|
TLpq2456487833
|
| Main Entry
|
:
|
Alahmari, Ahmad K.
|
|
|
:
|
Pettid, Michael J.
|
| Title & Author
|
:
|
Introducing Passing into Arabic Through Translation:\ Alahmari, Ahmad K.Pettid, Michael J.
|
| College
|
:
|
State University of New York at Binghamton
|
| Date
|
:
|
2020
|
| student score
|
:
|
2020
|
| Degree
|
:
|
Ph.D.
|
| Page No
|
:
|
345
|
| Abstract
|
:
|
This dissertation studies the ways American literary works of the early twentieth century can reflect the sociological concept of passing. Passing can be generally defined as the conscious movement from one identity to another. Passing was practiced intensively by blacks in order to escape discrimination, making it both a means of survival and a central issue at the core of racial conflict. Early twentieth-century American literature frequently addressed and mirrored racial conflict and discrimination. Since that time, many newer literary works have been written to cast light on these issues. One of these works is Caucasia by Danzy Senna, which I translate from English into Arabic. The novel involves many forms of passing: its characters perform passing to survive, to escape discrimination, and to manage social pressure. In earlier traditional passing novels, the passing is performed through physical appearance, i.e., a light-skinned black person passes as white. However, in Caucasia, by contrast, a number of forms of passing are presented, and language, rather than physical appearance, is the main instrument its characters use to perform various identities and to pass. Vermeer and Nord’s theories, which are part of the functional theories to translation, have been applied to approach the problems that arose during the translation process of the novel. However, the main problem this dissertation tackles is the translation of the concept of passing itself. The problem can be divided into three parts: first, translators translate the term passing into Arabic by literally using words that carry the sense of transiting or crossing; second, in English-Arabic dictionaries, the term “passing” is only referred to as the gerund of “to pass,” meaning to “get through, or go beyond” and there is no explanation or mention of the phenomenon of passing; and, third, in Arabic the practice in which an individual moves from one identity to another is always described but unnamed. To address these problems, I study passing and compare it to the sociological phenomenon of taqiya in which minority individuals conceal or shift their identities to avoid harm. I conclude my study by arguing that taqiya maps onto passing; although both terms appeared in totally different cultures, they have comparable–and in some cases identical–sociological functions. Therefore, a term like taqiya should be utilized (for translators and sociologists) to refer to any shift of identity. Assigning a term to refer to such practices enriches the language and is of paramount importance for its speakers. Also, this dissertation should draw Arabic linguists’ attention to the absence of the practice of passing in English-Arabic dictionaries. Adding a short description for this practice would be of great help to translators.
|
| Subject
|
:
|
American literature
|
|
|
:
|
Black studies
|
|
|
:
|
Foreign language learning
|
|
|
:
|
Language arts
|
|
|
:
|
Sociolinguistics
|
|
|
:
|
Translation studies
|
| |