Wiebke Sievers Book order

Flight and asylum have long dominated public debates in Europe. Right-wing populist parties have gained significance in many countries. An agreement that will allow the European Union to assume its responsibility towards worldwide refugee movements seems out of reach. The present volume contributes to the differentiation of these debates. On the one hand, it reconsiders flight and asylum from international and historical perspectives as well as from the point of view of those affected by these developments. On the other hand, it presents empirical results on the political and civil response to the refugees besides their integration into the labour market and the opportunities and limits of their social and cultural participation.

Translation negotiates otherness. Hence, otherness can be regarded as a central component of the translation process. Moreover, via disciplines, such as philosophy and anthropology, otherness in the last two decades has entered Western theories and studies of translation and become an important analytical and normative category in the field of translation studies. Nevertheless, there is an apparent lack of research considering the concept itself as well as its history and current use in the field and its relevance for the practice of translation. This book can be regarded as a first attempt to fill this gap. It reconsiders the translation theories currently known as foreignizing and shows that some of these draw on the same nationalist agenda that they try to transcend. Moreover, the ensuing case study proves that current translation practice is still governed by a nationalist assurance of linguistic and cultural differences. This book therefore concludes by calling for a change of perspective in the theoretical and practical approaches to translation. Translation should no longer be regarded as a means of delimiting our selves from a national other, but as a way to uncover the otherness underlying these alleged selves.