Militant Translation. Towards a Definition of a Situated Concept

Abstract

The research and practice of activist translation is one of the most important issues on the current agenda of Translation Studies. Its impact on the discipline, in particular, and on societies, in general, is undeniable and the number of activist translators grows by the day. Academically and geopolitically situated in Argentina, I recognize the relevance of situatedness in Translation Studies and the importance of developing concepts that acknowledge situated translation practices in all their complexity. This article draws from my experience as volunteer translator in Proyecto Desclasificados, an interdisciplinary project run by three renowned Argentinian human rights organizations: Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) and Memoria Abierta. Within this project, a group of eight translators works collaboratively to translate into Spanish an archive of declassified documents issued by U.S. intelligence agencies and government (e.g., CIA, FBI, Department of State, among others). Articulating this experience with a theory of militancy (Selci 2018), and in dialogue with the concept of activist translation, this article ponders on the specificity of Argentinian socially and politically engaged translation practices and advances a definition of a new situated concept: militant translation.