Asir before World War I: Ideological Representations of the Local Tribes and Translational Shifts

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the representation of Asiri people in Asir before World War I (Cornwallis 1976), a historical British travel writing book, and its respective Arabic translation. Following Toury’s (1995) descriptive approach and van Leuven-Zwart’s (1989) model of shift analysis, I investigate the impact of particular sociocultural factors on the image construction process in terms of Asiris’ personal and physical characteristics, ethnic heritage, and traditional values and practices. Then, I explore the impact of these shifts on the macro level of meaning and overall representation of people and traditions of Asir. The study finds the representation of the local people in the book is pragmatic and strictly goes in line with the colonial agenda and perspectives. Furthermore, the translation shows frequent patterns of modification, mutation shifts and omissions related to the representation and depiction of the local people (individuals and groups) reported in the original text.