Translation, colonialism, and the rise of English

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Economic and Political Weekly

Publication Date

4-14-1990

Volume

25

Issue

15

First Page

773

Last Page

779

Publisher

Economic and Political Weekly

Abstract

The introduction of English has been seen as "an embattled response to historical and political pressures: to tensions between the English parliament and the East India Company, between parliament and the missionaries, between the East India Company and the native elite classes". Extending this argument, the author suggests that the specific resolution of these tensions through the introduction of English education is enabled discursively by the colonial practice of translation. European translations of Indian texts prepared for a western audience provided to the 'educated' Indian a whole range of Orientalist images. Even when the anglicised Indian spoke a language other than English, he would have preferred, because of the symbolic power attached to Englsh, to gain access to his own past through the translations and histories circulated through colonial discourse English education also familiarised the Indian with ways of seeing, techniques of translation, or modes of representation that came to be accepted as 'natural'.

Print ISSN

00129976

E-ISSN

23498846

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 1990 Economic and Political Weekly

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Additional Information

This article also published in S. Joshi (Ed.) (1991), Rethinking English: Essays in literature, language, history (pp. 124-145). New Delhi: Trianka.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Niranjana, T. (1990). Translation, colonialism, and the rise of English. Economic and Political Weekly, 25(15), 773-779.

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