Translation as Mobile practice

Abstract

Combining insights from an inter-disciplinary body of research on translation, this study argues that translation be theorized as a site to perform embodied, situated, and mediated rhetorical work. This study examines the translation practices of Morgan, a multilingual writer, as mediated by a transnational network of brokers, semiotic resources, and digital tools. By tracing the role of translation in her completion of a first year writing assignment across formal, informal, and digital spaces, I illustrate the extraordinary cognitive, emotional, and physical labor of translation. Working from a mobility framework, this study explores translation as simultaneously fluid, frictive, and fixed when students engage in open inquiry into and negotiate with language, rhetorical, and cultural differences during multilingual composing. The passage of textual meaning across languages, readers, and rhetorical traditions brings into convergence multiple cultural narratives, multilingual and semiotic repertoires, rhetorical traditions and learning trajectories, which creates tensions and fissures as well as opportunities for innovation and creativity. By making visible the backstage, collaborative scenes of translation, I explore translation as fertile grounds for retooling writing-related knowledge and strategies, which will help second language writing instructors to reconsider pedagogical practices.