Bible Localization and the Politics of Memory and Oblivion

Naimushin, Boris (2011) Bible Localization and the Politics of Memory and Oblivion. In: Памет и забрава във Византия : [сборник материали от международна конференция, София, 2009] = Memory and Oblivion in Byzantium : [collection of materials, International Conference, Sofia, 2009]. Военно издателство, София, pp. 108-115. ISBN 9789545094545

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Official URL: http://gtbyzance.com/bg/articles.php

Abstract

For centuries the Bible and its teaching have been used to construct identities in the Western world. Today the range of ‘legitimate’ identities is much larger than several decades ago. Facing issues of ethnicity, religion, gender-role identity and sexual orientation, people are confronted with restated contemporary questions of ‘Who am I? and ‘What is the meaning of my life?’ These questions are often hard to answer and many people struggle with them throughout their whole lives.

What we are witnessing today is an extreme case of what the author calls ‘groupcentric Bible translation’ or ‘Bible localization’, also referred to as ‘niche Bibles’. Groupcentric translation is a logical continuation of ethnocentric translation that distorts the other culture to suit the views of a new audience. Another way to describe this phenomenon is to use the term ‘localization’ taken from the software industry that describes any changes required to adapt a product to the needs of a particular ‘locale’, i.e. a group of people united by their common language and cultural conventions.

Item Type:Book Section
Subjects:Language. Linguistics. Literature > Language
Political sciences > Political sciences. Theory and philosophy
Religion > Bible
Translation studies
ID Code:1683
Deposited By: Boris Anatolievich Naimushin
Deposited On:14 Mar 2013 13:14
Last Modified:14 Mar 2013 13:14

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