ISSN: 1579-9794

Hikma 22(2) (2023), 337 - 341

OAKNÍN, MAZAL & BOLAÑOS GARCÍA-ESCRIBANO,

ALEJANDRO (EDS). FEMINISM AND GENDER AWARENESS IN MODERN

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND TRANSLATION. E-EXPERT SEMINAR

SERIES: TRANSLATION AND LANGUAGE TEACHING, VOL. VI.

CÓRDOBA, UCOPRESS, 2022, 26 PP. ISBN: 978-84-9927-722-6

Feminism and gender awareness in modern foreign languages and

translation is the sixth book of the series entitled e-Expert Seminar Series:

Translation and Language Teaching. This e-book is edited by Mazal Oaknín

and Alejandro Bolaños García-Escribano and contains recordings of the

blended seminar organised by the UCL Centre for Translation Studies, UK,

and the University of Córdoba, Spain.

Translation and Feminist Studies share a long history insofar as

feminism has needed and benefited from the dissemination of ideas and

practices into other languages, spaces and cultures. Translation Studies

embraced feminism by assuming a political stance that shook the old principle

of fidelity (Arrojo, 1994) and rose up against the premise of translation as

reproduction (the subjected woman) of an original that is an act of authored

creativity (the dominant man) (Chamberlain, 1988). Following these new,

radical theories, the focus shifted from the author’s intention to the translator’s

proactive commitment towards social justice and equality. Feminist translation

studies have traditionally focused on the “womanipulation” of translations

through specific strategies (Von Flotow, 1997) and the visibilisation of women

authors, translators and subjects. Gender-fair language has also been added

to the feminist translation mix on the basis that “making the feminine visible in

language is making women seen and heard in the real world, which is what

feminism is all about” (De Lotbinière-Harwood, 1989, p. 9). More broadly,

gender mainstreaming integrates a gender perspective in all areas, including

at an educational level, with the goal of promoting equality.

Despite an extensive body of literature in translation studies, feminism

is not always included in the translation curriculum, and this is precisely the

focus of the volume under review, in order to close in that gap. Liberating the

curriculum and embracing inclusivity in the classroom are discussed by Mazal

Oaknín (University College London, UK) in her introduction. In this video book,

readers are exposed to ground-breaking experiences that bring together

feminism and gender awareness in modern languages and translation

teaching.

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Hikma 22(2) (2023), 337 - 341

In the first chapter, Şebnem Susam-Saraeva (University of Edinburgh,

UK) examines the struggles experienced by refugee and migrant women in

childbirth. The impact of language competence and obstetric violence has not

been fully addressed by translation studies scholars, and neither has birth

been a commonplace subject of feminist theories. Nevertheless, Susam-

Saraeva argues that the implications for interpreter training are crucial.

Although interpreting alone cannot solve the mistreatment that foreign

language speaking women may endure in maternal institutional settings, the

author proposes a mixed training approach for interpreting students to act as

health mediators and introduces the notion of the interpreter-cum-doula.

In the second chapter, José Santaemilia (University of Valencia, Spain)

examines public discourse on gender, sexuality and social inequality within

the lines of convergence and interdependency between translation

theory/practice, and feminism. Translation is a profoundly ethical activity

whose concept of neutrality should be revised to interrogate the androcentric

logic of the original from an (eco)feminist, transnational perspective.

Santaemilia provides practical examples of classroom-based projects in which

students analyse instances of linguistic sexism in legal fiction books through

critical discourse analysis.

Soledad Díaz-Alarcón (University of Córdoba, Spain) describes a

literary translation class project that challenges preconceptions. Through this

experience, students are encouraged to acknowledge the presence of

domination techniques (Ås, 1978) and feminine stereotypes in the original and

the translation. This project can have a direct social impact by prompting

students to question gender asymmetries that reflect a paradigm of men

dominating women that repeated exposure has taught us to accept as natural

and inconsequential.

Olga Castro (University of Warwick, UK) narrates her experience

teaching an undergraduate module on translating transgressive Hispanic

feminist literature based on Henry-Tierney (2019). Students, who are new to

translation other than as a tool for language learning, are confronted with

thought-provoking questions: Which female authors are translated and how?

What is gender-conscious and feminist translation? What strategies are

available? Castro touches on intersectional identities and Hispanic

geographies, raising the students’ awareness of the need for feminism(s) and

feminist translation, and tries to arouse passion for translation as a creative

and political activity.

Gora Zaragoza-Ninet (University of Valencia, Spain) describes the

difficulties experienced when implementing a gender approach in translation

studies. The question of gender is neither included in the translation

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Hikma 22(2) (2023), 337 - 341

curriculum nor mastered by the students, who acknowledge the shortfall and

demand a change. Zaragoza-Ninet’s proposal for the inclusion of gender in

translation training is structured around three main axes: researchers’ and

students’ projects, academic events, and module contents. In her experience,

students are deeply convinced that critical thinking and a gender approach

can give them a competitive advantage in their professional careers.

In the penultimate chapter, María Laura Spoturno (National University

of La Plata, Argentina) examines Argentina’s regulatory framework and the

universities’ gender agenda, as well as intersectional, transnational, third-

world, decolonial, and post-colonial feminist perspectives. Spoturno’s

proposals towards approaching gender in the translation classroom require

knowledge of the legal framework and university policies, and involve

curriculum adaptations. For the design of relevant teaching tools, it is

paramount that additional dialogue and collaboration be promoted at local,

regional and international levels. Gender and feminism must be addressed

critically in the translation classroom to foster a fundamental reflection on

retranslation as a feminist translation strategy.

The final chapter revolves around the benefits of equality, diversity and

inclusion (EDI) in the translation classroom, and the use of feminist translation

as a vehicle to further social change. Amy Xiaofan Li (University College

London, UK) dissociates fairer societies from grammatically genderless

languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, and encourages the examination

of language biases beyond grammatical gender. Critical thinking must be

applied to teaching translation in order to encourage students to assess the

effects of gender in discourse analysis, and to emphasise the diversity of

subjects and authors. Haydn Kirnon (University College London, UK) tackles

gender inequalities through the work and life of María Moliner as a woman

librarian snubbed and belittled by a patriarchal academy of language, and

presents a selection of books dealing with otherness in a Spanish context that

can be used in the translation classroom. The tall order is to marry the

teaching of languages through translation with starting a meaningful

conversation with students. Martha Gaustad (University of Córdoba, Spain)

analyses the difficulties posed by teaching gender in technical translation,

especially when dealing with sensitive topics. Other gender issues in the

technical translation class can be the treatment of pseudo-scientific myths

related to women’s health, like menstruation, or the male bias in medical

research. Last but not least, Antonio Jesús Tinedo Rodríguez (UNED, Spain)

posits that didactic audiovisual translation can have a positive social impact

by resourcing materials that raise awareness of gender and feminism.

Readers will find in this must-read book food for thought and materials

that aim at making the classroom a women-centred space that promotes

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equality, diversity and inclusion. As Alejandro Bolaños (University College

London, UK) underlines in his conclusion, the chapters encompass abundant

practical examples that can be easily replicated.

This publication is invaluable as a much-needed instrument of

advocacy towards the inclusion of gender and feminist approaches in the

translation classroom. Lecturers, often constrained by time restrictions and

bureaucracy, will herein find ways in which to harness the potential of feminist

translation as “a productive pedagogical tool to promote equality, social justice

and solidarity in and beyond the classroom” (Ergun & Castro, 2017, p. 24).

Exchanges of socially-engaged educational experiences such as these can

be extremely useful and necessary for inspiration, and more attention needs

to be brought to them. Nevertheless, without formal integration in curricula,

the implementation of these practices can be haphazard, subject to the will of

the trainers and available time. This fortuitousness does not do justice to the

significance of gender mainstreaming in teaching foreign languages and

translation as a tool in the pursuit of equality.

EFERENCES

Arrojo, R. (1994). Fidelity and the gendered translation. Traduire les

sociolectes, 7(2), 147-163.

Ås, B. (1979). De fem hersketeknikker, om å ufarliggjøre fiendens våpen.

Årbog for Kvinderet, 4, 55-88.

Chamberlain, L. (1988). Gender and the metaphorics of translation. Signs,

13(3), 454-472.

De Lotbinière-Harwood, S. (1989). About the her in other. In Gauvin, Lise &

De Lotbinière-Harwood, Susanne (Trans.). Letters from an other. The

Women's Press.

Ergun, E. & Castro, O. (2017). Pedagogies of feminist translation: rethinking

difference and commonality across borders. In Castro, Olga & Ergun,

Emek (Eds.), Feminist translation studies: local and transnational

perspectives. Advances in translation and interpreting studies.

Routledge.

Henry-Tierney, P. (2019). Parameters, thresholds and liminal spaces:

designing a course on sex, gender and translation. In De Marco,

Marcela & Toto, Piero (Eds.), Gender approaches in the translation

classroom. Palgrave Macmillan.

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Von Flotow, L. (1997). Translation and gender: translating in the “era of

feminism”. St. Jerome.

ARÍA LÓPEZ-MEDEL]