Representation of Self and Other in Persian Translations of English Travel Memoirs

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Department of English Translation Studies

Representation of Self and Other in Persian Translations of English Travel Memoirs

Master of Arts in English Translation Studies

Abstract

The thesis at hand is an investigation of the relationship of translation, identity and representation. It is a postcolonial study of the role of translator in representing the “orientalist” identity given to Persians by the European travellers during the Nasseri era in Iran. For this purpose, one of the most influential English travelogues written during Naser al-Din Shahperiodby Mary Sheil-the wife of Justine Colonel Sheil-was chosen. It was sought to see whether the Self/Other binary opposition of identity was portrayed in the travel writing the way Edward Said states in Orientalism (1978). The Persian translation was as well studied to understand how the translator had represented them in his translation; that is, whether or not he had manipulated them according to the dominant ideology of his time. For this reason, Dukate’s (2007) typology of manipulation was used. The data were classified by the researcher into 6 thematic categories including:Persian people, Persian women,religious culture, Ameer Kabeer, Babeeismand Native tribes.  It was found that the image of Other had been most manipulated in categories of religious culture and Ameer Kabeer.In Babeeism, positive picture of them by the author had been manipulated, mostly through adding footnote. Persian people had been manipulated, though by intensifying the image of Other, without softening the sarcastic tone of the author. Persian women and native tribes were least manipulated. Thus, it was concluded that the translator had eclectically performed ideological manipulation in the text. In some categories he had resisted the image of Other, while in some others, the image wasembraced and replicated intact.

Keywords:Ideology,Manipulation, Orientalism, PostcolonialStudies, Representation, Self/Other.