The Unspeakable in Pursuit of the Ineffable

Representations of Untranslatability in Ethnographic Discourse

Bibliographic Data

ID20051955
AuthorsM Herzfeld (0000-0002-8080-2542, corresponding author)
Year2020
Pages109-134
Publication date2020-06-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueTranslating Cultures (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781003087243-7
OpenAlexW3035795322
ISBN9781003087243
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited1

This chapter argues that the difficulty disappears if we treat ethnographic translation and literary translation as two different, if closely related, enterprises. This has to do with the difference between ethnography and fiction at the most basic level. The chapter examines some of the translations encountered in Campbell's and Friedl's work, turning thereafter in much the same vein to some more recent studies, and provides some examples to grapple with these issues across a wide spectrum ranging from Cretan shepherds to a cosmopolitan if traditionalizing novelist - whose work poses special challenges for potential choices between "literary" and "literal" (or "ethnographic") translations. Campbell's description of wedding practices remains unmatched. He makes no self-authorizing claims about the untranslatability of terms but meticulously documents words and phrases that he sees as significant to local actors

Ethnography · Linguistics · Sociology · Anthropology · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Communication · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy

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