The Thai Translation of Un violador en tu camino: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis
Abstract
In Thailand, the advocacy group Feminist Liberation that emerged alongside the pro-democracy protests in mid-2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic translated Un violador en tu camino, a song composed and performed publicly by Chilean feminist collective Las Tesis and since hailed as a feminist anthem, into Thai as Sita Lui Fai and adapted the original choreography to construct their public discourse around gender-based violence. To answer the overarching question of how transnational feminism was enabled by translation, this paper investigates how the Chilean feminist discourse has changed upon introduction into the target context using Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) multimodal critical discourse analysis of the Thai translation and its choreography. The results show that while both versions similarly highlight the structural cause of gender-based violence, the Chilean lyrics place greater focus on feminist theoretical pedagogy in contrast to the Thai translation’s function as an affective vehicle for anger as exemplified by the adoption of a more colloquial term for “patriarchy”, the choice of specific pronouns to challenge Thai seniority culture, and the emotionally charged modifications to the original choreography. With multiple references to the monarchy, the song has been re-signified to reflect the reality of gender oppression specific to Thailand. Translation has thus served as a tool through which transnational feminism has been fostered. Feminist Liberation’s collaboration with other advocacy groups additionally indicated their intersectional framework where LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive healthcare, students’ rights are inextricably linked to the goal of gender equality.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Arunrangsiwed, P., & Seedoung, M. (2020). Aquaman the movie: Analysis through the lens of feminists. Journal of Applied Informatics and Technology, 2(1), 46–57.
Bacchetta, P., Campt, T., Grewal, I., Kaplan, C., Moallem, M., & Terry, J. (2002). Transnational feminist practices against war. Meridians, 2(2), 302–308. https://doi.org/10.1215/15366936-2.2.302
Baker, M. (2006). Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account. Routledge.
Baker, M. (2013). Translation as an alternative space for political action. Social Movement Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2012.685624
Baker, M. (2014). Translation as re-narration. In J. House (Ed.), Translation: A Multidisciplinary Approach (pp. 158–177). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137025487_9
Baker, M. (2016). The prefigurative politics of translation in place-based movements of protest: Subtitling in the Egyptian Revolution. Translator. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2016.1148438
Baker, M. (2018). Audiovisual translation and activism. In Luis Pérez-González (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation. Routledge.
Bassnett, S. (2007). Culture and translation. In Piotr Kuhiwczak & Karin Littau (Eds.), A Companion to Translation Studies (pp. 13–23). Multilingual Matters.
Bezemer, J., & Jewitt, C. (2009). Social Semiotics. In J.-O. Östman, J. Verscheuren, & E. Versluys (Eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics: 2009 Installment (Vol. 13, pp. 1–13). John Benjamins.
Bronfman, P. (2021). “A rapist in your path”: Flash mob as a form of artivism in the 2019 Chilean social outbreak. Connessioni Remote. Artivismo_Teatro_Tecnologia, 2(2), 210–225.
Carcelén-Estrada, A. (2018). Translation and activism. In F. Fernández & J. Evans (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Politics (pp. 254–269). Routledge.
Castro, O. (2010). Non-sext translation and/in social change (J. Boéri & C. Maier, Eds.). ECOS.
Castro, O., & Ergün, E. (2017). Feminist Translation Studies: Local and Transnational Perspectives. Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315679624
Castro, O., & Ergun, E. (2018). Translation and feminism. In F. Fernández & J. Evans (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Politics (pp. 125–143).
Castro, O., Mainer, S., & Page, S. (Eds.). (2017). Self-Translation and Power: Negotiating Identities in European Multilingual Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50781-5
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex. The University of Chicago Legal Forum, 140, 139–167. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429500480
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
Devika, J. (2008). Being “‘in-translation’” in a post-colony translating feminism in Kerala State, India. Translation Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781700802113507
Dezhkameh, A., Layegh, N., & Hadidi, Y. (2021). A critical discourse analysis of Covid-19 in Iranian and American newspapers. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 21(3), 231–244.
Drott, E. (2015). Resistance and social movements. In The Routledge Reader on the Sociology of Music. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203736319-19
Ellis, V. D., & LeBrón, M. (2019). “Un Violador En Tu Camino” and the Virality of Feminist Protest. https://nacla.org/news/2019/12/27/un-violador-en-tu-camino-virality-feminist-protest
Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and Power. Longman Inc.
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. Psychology Press.
Feminist Liberation. (2020, November 8). Letter from Women to King Vajiralongkorn. https://twitter.com/femliberateth/status/1325398604392009731?s=20
Gould, R. R., & Tahmasebian, K. (Eds.). (2020). The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism. Routledge.
Grewal, I., & Kaplan, C. (Eds.). (1994). Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices. University of Minnesota Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. Arnold.
Hassen, R. (2011). English translation of the Quran by women: The challenges of “gender balance” in and through language. MonTI. Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación. https://doi.org/10.6035/monti.2011.3.8
Hayward, K., & Komarova, M. (2020). The use of visibility in contentious events in Northern Ireland. In A. McGarry, I. Erhart, H. Eslen-Ziya, O. Jenzen, & U. Korkut (Eds.), The Aesthetics of Global Protest: Visual Culture and Communication (pp. 59–79). Amsterdam University Press.
Hinsliff, G. (2020). ‘The rapist is you!’: Why a Chilean protest chant is being sung around the world. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/03/the-rapist-is-you-chilean-protest-song-chanted-around-the-world-un-iolador-en-tu-camino
Jaifai, P. (2017). The Nonduality Concept of Ecofeminism in Lanna. Panidhana Journal, 13(2), 212–227.
Kaplan, C. (1994). The politics of location as transnational feminist critical practice. In I. Grewal & C. Kaplan (Eds.), Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices. University of Minnesota Press.
Khamenkit, R., Lawattanatrakul, A., & Panudomlak, N. (2021). ‘To be free from discrimination is human right’: A young activist’s fight for gender equality and democracy. Prachatai. https://prachatai.com/english/node/9300
Kress, G. R., & Leeuwen, T. van. (1996). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. Routledge.
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Levine, S. J. (1984). Translation as (Sub) version: On translating Infante’s Inferno. SubStance, 13(1), 85–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/3684106
Liddicoat, A. J. (2016). Intercultural mediation, intercultural communication and translation. Perspectives, 24(3), 354–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2014.980279
Lotbinière-Harwood, S. de. (1991). Re-Belle et Infidèle/The Body Bilingual: Translation as a Re-Writing in the Feminine. Women’s Press.
Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2012). How to Do Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. SAGE Publications.
Millán, M. (2016). The traveling of ‘gender’ and its accompanying baggage: Thoughts on the translation of feminism(s), the globalization of discourses, and representational divides. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 23(1), 6–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506814565632
Mo, Y., & Tanauraksakul, N. (2017). An Analysis of The House of Earth’s Main Characters from a Perspective of Socialist Feminism. Liberal Arts Review, 12(23), 1–13.
Mohanty, C. T. (2003). “Under Western Eyes” revisited: Feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(2), 499–535. https://doi.org/10.1086/342914
Mwangi, E. (2009). Amandina Lihamba’s gendered adaptation of Sembene Ousmane’s The Money-Order. Research in African Literatures, 149–173. https://doi.org/10.2979/RAL.2009.40.3.149
Naijarun, K., Janthawong, J., & Konkawalee, P. (2020). “Luead Khon Kon Jang” (In Family We Trust): An analysis of the status and role of characters in the cognitive system of women in displaced Chinese families. Phranakhon Rajabhat Research Journal, 15(2), 245–262.
Namphadorn, W. (2014). Analysis of signification and representation of sex and relationship in dialogues from “Sex and the City.” Humanities & Social Sciences, 31(2), 215–236.
Pengbun, C., Muangkaew, N., Nitnara, A., & Kaewbut, P. (2019). Feminism through female characters: The case study of “Bai Yin Na—The Hidden Village on the Heilongjiang River Bank”, the Chinese-Thai translation by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Phayao, 8(1),
–204.
Pérez-González, L. (2010). “Ad-hocracies” of translation activism in the blogosphere: A genealogical case study. In Text and Context: Essays on Translation and Interpreting in Honour of Ian Mason (pp. 259–287).
Pérez-González, L. (2012). Amateur subtitling and the pragmatics of spectatorial subjectivity. Language and Intercultural Communication, 12(4), 335–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2012.722100
Pérez-González, L. (2013). Amateur subtitling as immaterial labour in digital media culture: An emerging paradigm of civic engagement. Convergence, 19(2), 157–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856512466381
Punkasirikul, P. (2018). Multimodal critical discourse analysis: Basic concepts, approaches, applications, and reflections on analyzing Thai language texts. KKU International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 8(1), 31–59.
Puyati, C. (2017). Feminism and patriotism in “Sam Peng Lady.” Chinese Studies Journal, 10(1), 1–30.
Ramanathan, R., & Tan, B. H. (2015). Application of critical discourse analysis in media discourse studies. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature, 21(3), 57–68.
Rattanaporn Khamenkit, Lawattanatrakul, A., & Panudomlak, N. (2021). ‘To be free from discrimination is human right’: A young activist’s fight for gender equality and democracy.
Royal Gazette. (2020, August 29). Taengtang Hai Damrong Thanundornsak Lae Praratchatan Kreungratchaitsariyaporn Took Chantra [Granted Rank of Nobility and Awarded All Royal Decorations]. http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2563/B/023/T_0020.PDF
Serafini, P. (2020). ‘A rapist in your path’: Transnational feminist protest and why (and how) performance matters. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(2), 290–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549420912748
Simon, S. (1996). Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203202890
Simon, S. (2020). Subtle connections: Pandemic and the authoritarian impulse. Survival, 62(3), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2020.1763615
Susam-Saraeva, Ş. (2018). Music, politics and translation. In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Politics. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315621289
Susam-Sarajeva, Ş. (2008). Translation and Music. The Translator, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2008.10799255
Tymoczko, M. (Ed.). (2010). Translation, Resistance, Activism. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.48-6741
Tymoczko, M., & Gentzler, E. (Eds.). (2002). Translation and Power. University of Massachusetts Press.
UN Women. (2020). COVID-19 and ending violence against women and girls. https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/issue-brief-covid-19-and-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-en.pdf?la=en&vs=5006
van Dijk, T. A. (1997). Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction. SAGE Publications.
von Flotow, L. (1997). Translation and Gender: Translating in the “Era of Feminism.” https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315538563
von Flotow, L., & Farahzad, F. (Eds.). (2017). Translating Women: Different Voices and New Horizons. Taylor & Francis.
von Flotow, L., & Kamal, H. (2020). The Routledge Handbook of Translation, Feminism and Gender. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315158938
Wang, D., & Zhang, X. (2017). Fansubbing in China: Technology-facilitated activism in translation. Target, 29(2), 301–318. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.29.2.06wan
Witchayapakorn, K. (2015). The writing of an abject ego in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Journal of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University, 15(2), 24–44.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2001). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. SAGE Publications.
Xie, S. (2018). Translation and globalization. In F. Fernández & J. Evans (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Politics (pp. 79–94). Routledge.
Young, S. (1997). Changing the Wor(l)d: Discourse, Politics and the Feminist Movement. Routledge.
Yu, Z. (2015). Translating Feminism in China: Gender, Sexuality and Censorship. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315753096
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/gema-2023-2301-09
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
eISSN : 2550-2131
ISSN : 1675-8021