The act of translation, Tejaswini Niranjana maintains, is a political action. Niranjana draws on Benjamin, Derrida, and de Man to show that translation has long been a site for perpetuating the unequal power relations among people, races, and languages. The traditional view of translation underwritten by Western philosophy helped colonialism to construct the exotic 'other' as unchanging and outside history, and thus easier both to appropriate and control. Scholars, administrators, and missionaries in colonial India translated the colonized people's literature in order to extend the bounds of empire. Examining translations of Indian texts from the eighteenth century to the present, Niranjana urges post-colonial people to reconceive translation as a site for resistance and transformation.

About the Author
Tejaswini Niranjana received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and teaches in the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad.


Book Information
ISBN 9780520074514
Author Tejaswini Niranjana
Format Paperback
Page Count 216
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 272g
Dimensions(mm) 210mm * 140mm * 18mm