Organized by
Department of South and Southeast Asia Studies
University of California, Berkeley
Center for South Asia Studies
University of California, Berkeley
Sponsored by
The Sikh Foundation
Center for South Asia Studies
Conference Program
Directions to the Conference
The Third I Film Festival will be taking place at the same time as the conference, presenting three films exploring Sikh identity.
Globalization has brought into sharp relief issues of translation. The movement of people across borders in modern times has led to increased linguistic and cultural diversity. The emergence of diaspora communities with their complex ties to homelands and lands of destination has resulted in new cultural forms which are products of translation. The spread of cultural representations and forms of cultural exchange through the new media, forms of public recognition shaped by these media and their political appropriation, interventionist politics and its dependency on linguistic and cultural translators all these issues can be framed with the concept of "translation."
Under close examination, translation is a complex and multidimensional practice. The common sense understanding of translation as mode of finding conceptual equivalents in different cultural and linguistic grammars is certainly appropriate and yet crucially misleading as it portrays this process as a simple one-to-one reference system. Translation does not imply that there are equivalents. Translations fail and important things get lost or seem untranslatable. People get "lost in translation" or find themselves overwhelmed by the task at hand. In important ways, it seems, translation marks a cultural and political landscape where resources and the control over what is translated (and how) is unequally distributed.
Trained interpreters working in the diplomatic services are in a different position as primary school teachers who have to put up with the linguistic diversity of multiethnic urban kids. Politicians subscribing to the idea of the civilizational clash have a different understanding of the translatability of culture as, for instance, representatives of minority populations who feel compelled to "explain" their beliefs, customs, and norms to their fellow American citizens. Translations are always situated in a field in which access to power is vital and in which hierarchies between different languages and cultural formations are the norm rather than the exception. Translations have the power to change perceptions; they can also fail to do so.
In the academia, these issues have been taken up and widely discussed, "translation" figuring not only as a guiding metaphor for questions of difference and identity in the broad field of cultural studies, but also as a learned practice in language and literature departments, in history, religious studies, rhetoric, or anthropology where the concept has served for considerable time as a guideline for conducting research and writing ethnography.
In the light of this vast interest, has the field of Sikh and Punjab Studies something specific to offer? We think that this is certainly the case and have decided to put this question to a number of leading scholars in Sikh philosophy, religion and history, as well as Punjabi history, literature, and contemporary culture. We want to bring these scholars in dialogue with scholars at UC Berkeley who pursue a similar interest in matters of translation, yet on the basis of different regional and cultural emphases.
The line of inquiry is open. A few preliminary observations however, might be useful to frame the conference theme around selected key categories. Most of these issues correspond with questions addressed by the invited scholars in their respective field of expertise; others can be seen as complementary.
Challenges of Translation
In the opening panel we would like to address "core issues" of religion, culture, and translatability as they emerge from Punjab and Sikh history. Cultural encounters between the Islamic (Persian, Turk, Afghan) and Indic world have helped to shape a specific format of Punjabi cultural life that has early on been recognized as unique and distinct. Processes of translating between different cultural forms, languages, and religious world views were widespread and have shaped different textual traditions, specifically in the formation of Sikh Gurbani.
How can these processes be historically evaluated? What are the different textual layers in which issues of translation and translatability come to the fore? In what ways have encounters with the Western world led to new practices of translation and forms of cultural representation? Who were the agents involved in this practice and under what institutional conditions did certain forms of translation acquire authoritative status? If Western categories of religion have had a strong impact on making Sikhism to an ism, what are the implications of such discourses and how have they reflected back on the tradition in historical perspective?
One paper in the form of a keynote lecture will address some of these questions.
Translatability and Religious Criticism
Punjabi language and literature is closely tied to the formation of Sikh sacred scripture and hagiography. The Punjabi vernacular in its spoken and written form, however, has also been shaped by the spread of Islamic media, Persian language, and the role of Urdu as administrative and print language. Hindu reformist endeavors, such as those of the Arya Samaj were also influential, but not in similar ways as it was the case for the Hindi belt.
A range of critical questions might be addressed in this regard: What forms of translation between scriptures, vernacular print and oral text are characteristic for different historical junctures in Punjabi history? At what points have language issues taken on significance as identity markers and what have translations and attempts to create linguistic boundaries to do with it? Specifically interesting would be to get a better understanding of the various debates within religious traditions around the interpretation of texts, questions of their assigned authority and authenticity as well as discussions on the translatability of sacred scripture. The pre-colonial and colonial contexts might be preferred sites of investigating theses issues.
Two papers will confront the issue of translatability and religious criticism from the Sikh and Islamic perspective.
Translating Text and Practice
In this section we are interested to get a better sense of the complex relationships between text and practice. It does not make sense, for instance, to focus on Sikh Gurbani only in its textual dimension, because as a revered text it also acquires significance in the form of daily ritual recital and thus in terms of actual performative practices. What are the processes guiding such "translations" from text to practice? In terms of historical inquiry, one might frame the question differently and ask how particular (performative) practices can be discerned from a reading of vernacular tracts and narrative genres. Particularly relevant in this regard are questions of (ritual) participation, shared idioms of religious expressions, or the question of gender symbolism and their implications for religious practices.
Among the broad range of topics that spring to the mind here, we thought that a focus on ritual (translatability of ritual as text), performance (popular genres and their crossing of religious and cultural boundaries) and gender issues (symbolism and gendered translations of doctrinal texts) might be particularly instructive. Three papers will address these topics.
Translation in Transnational Perspective
Colonial and post-colonial histories of Punjabi migration have brought the issue of translation into stark relief. Some of the questions that inform our inquiry in this regard include: What are the new challenges of translation as they emerge from Punjabi overseas migration? What are the categories of public recognition known for different time periods and how have these categories shaped forms of Punjabi self-understanding? What forms of linguistic and cultural mediation are characteristic for Sikh and Punjabi diaspora life? What is the role of second-generation migrants as cultural translators and what are the particular predicaments they find themselves in? What can be learned in comparison from the Punjabi diaspora experience and how can this knowledge be translated in public discourse? What challenges do academics face in this regard?
This is a very limited range of questions for an increasingly complex phenomenon. Three scholars working on contemporary diaspora issue will make us more knowledgeable in this regard.
For all further questions concerning the conference rationale, please contact:
Michael Nijhawan
Adjunct Professor
Department of Anthropology
York University
Email: msnijhawan@gmx.de
