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鈥�Translation as Modality of Belonging: Cosmopolitan Nativeness in Ignatius Mouradgea d鈥橭hsson鈥檚听Tableau G茅n茅ral de l鈥橢mpire Othoman听听(1788-1794)鈥�听
by听
Dr. Neveser K枚ker (Independent Scholar)听
[A chapter from book manuscript听Traveling Loyalties: Politics of Belonging Beyond Nation and Empire]
Discussant:听Dr.听Virginia Aksan (McMaster University)听
Morrice Hall/Institute of Islamic Studies, Room 328 (Third Floor)听
9I制作厂免费听
Speaker Bio
Neveser听K枚ker听is a feminist political theorist currently based in Montr茅al, QC. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a graduate certificate in Women鈥檚 Studies from the University of Michigan. Prior to moving to Montr茅al, she worked as a lecturer at Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University. Her current book project, Traveling Loyalties: Politics of Belonging Beyond Nation and Empire, develops belonging as a key concept of modern and contemporary political thought using the rich archives of transnational encounters and exchanges across the Mediterranean. Most recently, her work has been published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.听听
Abstract
This chapter explores translation as a modality of belonging. Focusing on Ignatius听Mouradgea听d鈥橭hsson鈥檚听Tableau听G茅n茅ral听de听l鈥橢mpire听Othoman听published in 1794, it argues that as a modality of belonging, translation expresses an ambivalent and precarious sociopolitical relation between the individual and the political community. In this sense, translation requires the existence of a multilingual and multicultural subject who is linguistically anchored in at least two communities, a subject who can be called a 鈥渃osmopolitan native.鈥� While听d鈥橭hsson听was one of the many non-Muslim and non-Turkish Ottoman natives who took on the task of explaining the Ottoman Empire to a European audience, what makes his life and his multi-volume Tableau听G茅n茅ral听stand out are how they illustrate the opportunities, dangers, and impossibilities of such a task in a time of global socio-political tumult. Having returned to Istanbul from a long sojourn in France almost immediately after the French Revolution,听d鈥橭hsson听could convince neither his connections in the capital of the Ottoman Empire nor his patrons in Stockholm of his loyalty to the monarchy. Within the span of two decades,听d鈥橭hsson听was transformed from an Ottoman-Armenian-Catholic translator to an exiled (and later mostly forgotten) Swedish historian of the Ottoman Empire residing in Paris. This chapter interweaves听d鈥橭hsson鈥檚听biography with close readings of the Tableau听G茅n茅ral听to show how translation offers a zealous yet pragmatic cosmopolitan modality for belonging. This modality strives for cross-cultural exchange and understanding despite the knowledge that some meanings will be lost, some words will remain untranslatable, and the sense of belonging articulated through one鈥檚 native language will be changed forever.听
