Translating Cultures in the Arab World

Translating Cultures in the Arab World: New Histories and Geographies, significantly expands translation studies by unearthing overlooked discussions and reconceptualizing the history and movements of translation. It moves beyond a Western-centric and Anglonormative research perspective by beginning with the Middle East and the Arabic language, critically engaging with scholarship from the Arab world, including the Gulf region and the Global South. This provides a more inclusive and representative theorization of translating cultures for the twenty-first century. It features contributions from leading scholars that challenge previous interpretations and highlight translation’s crucial role in reshaping the translational humanities and Middle Eastern studies.

The text addresses critical issues, including the philosophy of translation, the dialectical relationship between translation and culture, the complexities of untranslatability, and the pivotal role of translation within specific historical and cultural contexts, such as Medieval Islamic cookbooks, the Arab world in sixteenth-century Islamic Spain, epistemic translation in the Arab Renaissance (Nahḍa), the First Saudi Opera, Zarqa Al Yamama, and the contemporary proliferation of translational spaces within the Gulf region. The volume thus serves as an essential intervention, urging scholars to interrogate how knowledge is constructed, contested, and reconfigured in global and translational contexts.

As a comprehensive examination of translating cultures at the intersection of historical analysis, theoretical exploration, and global cultural exchange, this volume serves as an essential resource for scholars and students in translation studies, comparative literature, Middle Eastern studies, and related fields.