Journal Article

The Translator as a Colonial Agent: Reframing the South in the English Translation of Season of Migration to the North

Allawzi, Areej, Ammari, Deema, Awwad, Mousa, Al-Shara’h, Mais

2024

Overview

This paper sets out to examine the translation of Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North in light of Narrative theory. In his work, Salih is writing back to the empire as a form of resistance against British Colonialism. The translation seems to tone this resistance down by constructing a narrative that underlines the superiority of the North over the South. The paper attempts to offer a fresh perspective as it explores how the South is reframed in the target text to be represented to the target audience. It also attempts to answer the question of how the East/South is narrated and whether it has been (dis)empowered in the novel’s translation. Given the importance of the text, It is essential to investigate how the novel has been introduced in the West using a strong and adaptable framework capable of capturing the complexities of the interactions among various powers involved. Narrative theory offers such a framework and is particularly suitable for the current study.