What are the challenges of translating gendered texts from Spanish into English, and English into Spanish? How have Spanish-language women* writers been translated across time? How have foreign women* writers been translated into Spanish and how has that influenced their reception? Which writers and feminist theories from the Hispanic world are translated into English (and why others aren't)? What does it mean to do a feminist or gender-conscious translation?

This module provides students with a broad knowledge of key research and discussion topics about women, gender, sexuality and feminism in the Hispanic world, in relation to translation. It also introduces students to the ideological role of translation as an enabling tool for the circulation of texts. Framed within the broader context of translation and publishing in the English-speaking book market, it exposes students to a variety of exciting contemporary women writers in the Hispanic world and the English translations of their texts, including fiction, non-fiction, LGBT+ literature and feminist theory. Students will have the opportunity to critically analyse existing (feminist, phallocentric and cis-heteronormative) translations of writers from Latin America, Equatorial Guinea and Spain, and to do gender-conscious translations of selected passages from the texts under study.

Topics Covered

• Gender-conscious Approaches to Translation.
• Travelling of Foreign Women-Authored Texts into the Hispanic World.
• Hispanic Authors in the English-language Book Industry: Women in Translation Initiatives.
• Feminist translation Strategies: from Grammatical Gender to Ideological Discourses.
• Translating Sexuality and Erotic Writing.
• Translating Poetry.
• Translating LGTB+ Writing: Beyond Cis-Heteronormativity.
• Translating Transgressive Texts.
• Translating Feminist Theory Texts.

Assessment

The course will be assessed in English. Students will be required to read and translate from Spanish source text material.

• Gender-conscious translation into English of a 250-word excerpt from a text selected by the module leader, accompanied by a 750-word commentary (30%)
• 3,500-word essay from a choice of set questions (70%)

Warning

Part of this module will involve reading, discussing and translating transgressive texts which may be explicit in terms of content and theme (i.e. representations of sex, sexuality and the body; abortion; gender abuse; menstruation; prostitution). If students feel that they may be sensitive to such material then they would be advised to contact me.