Othering the Self as a Form of Mimicry in the English Translation of Hirata’s Laskar Pelangi

Abstract

Indonesia's best-seller novel, Laskar Pelangi (LP) by Andrea Hirata, is praised as a masterpiece that dares to show educational inequality in Indonesia, but at the same time is scolded for being too Westernoriented. The translation of this novel, Hirata himself made the draft, was assumed and suspected of being designed to amuse Western readers. It is very relevant for this paper to discuss the English translation of the novel from the post-colonial perspective. As the initial translator, Hirata significantly modified the English translation with addition (and deletion) of words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and a new sub-chapter. The shifts are examined with post-colonial theories from Said and Bhabha to reveal thetranslator‟s standpoint to the issue of Self and Other in the context of West-East relation. The point is also seen from a social perspective with the approach of Oysterman and Marcus's theory about the „Social Self‟ (and Other), with the consideration that the author himself made the initial translation.The results of the analysis show a phenomenon of mimicry in the form of othering the self through hyperbolic descriptions of poverty, castration of Malay Islamic tradition, and creation of a local female hero. This study will empower translators from ex-colonized countries to be more concerned about their dignity, identity and uniqueness for promoting equality in translation.