The Postcolonial Moment: Translation as Politics
Harish Narang

The postcolonial space, continuously contested and evolving as it is, makes the act of translation both dynamic and strategic. Since language and context are specific to location and culture the role of the translator is often one of bridging cross cultural spaces. In the specific case of India, due to its essential diverse pluralities these acts become highly political in addition to being acts of conscience.

The paper articulates that in addition to translating culture the translator is also playing the role of retriever, in many cases, of languages that have been systemically devalued due to the long history of colonization. The connections made by the colonizer, and internalized by the colonized, between language, progress and status are, even in the postcolonial moment sustained through the setting up of insidious and subtle hierarchies.

The project of decolonising literary studies in India includes therefore, among other ways of righting these imbalances, the inclusion of some regional writings by well known writers. Although such acts are commendable, they often raise problematic issues. For instance, is there real value in such token inclusions? Or, what kind of reasons make for inclusions/exclusions? Besides, who decides, and thus sets up agendas for institutionalization? Why is the space of the regional writer in India, after more than fifty years of 'freedom' from colonial rule still inferior/contested? In the light of all these questions, the paper addresses the question 'Is India truly postcolonia1?'