Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance

In the race to secure the sub-rights to Amanda Gorman’s ground-breaking performance at the 2021 United States presidential inauguration, a high-profile case emerged in which the translator appointed by Dutch publisher Meulenhoff returned the commission, following criticism of the appointment. Build...

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Main Author: Sarah Maitland
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: ZHAW 2025-01-01
Series:JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/6942
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author Sarah Maitland
author_facet Sarah Maitland
author_sort Sarah Maitland
collection DOAJ
description In the race to secure the sub-rights to Amanda Gorman’s ground-breaking performance at the 2021 United States presidential inauguration, a high-profile case emerged in which the translator appointed by Dutch publisher Meulenhoff returned the commission, following criticism of the appointment. Building on the detailed critical interrogations of structural and racial inequity that were published in response to the ensuring controversy, this article delineates additional perspectives, by asking what is instructional in the debate on the who of translating Gorman’s performance, when it comes to other instances of translation of performance, and how we may learn from it in other contexts of translation for performance. Using performance as a concretising lens, or “system of meaning” (Pavis, 1992) that takes on significance only in the coming together of the relationships united in production and reception (p. 25), and through the application of theories of mathematical equivalence relations, this article questions what the controversy tells us about what translation of performance ‘is’ and ‘should’ be, and suggests what lessons might be learned with regard to the notion of equivalence in translation.
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spelling doaj-art-9db13838dd1e46a39307c17ec0a8ae9e2025-02-01T19:43:16ZdeuZHAWJoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation1740-357X2025-01-01434310.26034/cm.jostrans.2025.6942Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performanceSarah Maitland0Queen’s University Belfast In the race to secure the sub-rights to Amanda Gorman’s ground-breaking performance at the 2021 United States presidential inauguration, a high-profile case emerged in which the translator appointed by Dutch publisher Meulenhoff returned the commission, following criticism of the appointment. Building on the detailed critical interrogations of structural and racial inequity that were published in response to the ensuring controversy, this article delineates additional perspectives, by asking what is instructional in the debate on the who of translating Gorman’s performance, when it comes to other instances of translation of performance, and how we may learn from it in other contexts of translation for performance. Using performance as a concretising lens, or “system of meaning” (Pavis, 1992) that takes on significance only in the coming together of the relationships united in production and reception (p. 25), and through the application of theories of mathematical equivalence relations, this article questions what the controversy tells us about what translation of performance ‘is’ and ‘should’ be, and suggests what lessons might be learned with regard to the notion of equivalence in translation. https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/6942equivalencecategory theoryLeibniz’s Lawtranslation for performancetheatre translation
spellingShingle Sarah Maitland
Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance
JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation
equivalence
category theory
Leibniz’s Law
translation for performance
theatre translation
title Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance
title_full Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance
title_fullStr Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance
title_full_unstemmed Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance
title_short Constitution is not identity: On equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance
title_sort constitution is not identity on equivalence relations in translation of performance and translation for performance
topic equivalence
category theory
Leibniz’s Law
translation for performance
theatre translation
url https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/6942
work_keys_str_mv AT sarahmaitland constitutionisnotidentityonequivalencerelationsintranslationofperformanceandtranslationforperformance