Translation and Transmigration

In our globalized and transcultural world it has become more common than ever to live among different languages, to cross geographical and cultural borders frequently, to negotiate between multiple spaces and loyalties: from global businesspeople to guest workers, from tourists to refugees. In this book, Siri Nergaard examines translation as a personal, intimate experience of a subject living in and among different languages and cultures and sees living in translation as a socio-psychological condition of transmigrancy with strong implications on emotions and behaviour.

Adopting a wide transdisciplinary approach, drawing on theories in psychology, anthropology, cultural studies, semiotics, and philosophy, the author investigates the situations of translation affecting individuals, and in particular migrants. With examples from documentaries, photographs, exhibitions, and testimonies, Nergaard also analyses how migrants get translated in political discourse and in official documents, and how they perform their lives as transmigrants. The first part examines in particular three issues and concepts: the figure of the migrant, hospitality, and the border, which are viewed as representing the most fundamental questions of what living in translation means. The second part of the book presents examples of lives in translation through representations in a variety of modes and expressions.

This timely book is key reading for researchers and advanced students in translation and interpreting studies, anthropology, migration studies, and related areas.