An interview with Professor Paul Bandia

What is it about?

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Postcolonial Translation Studies which has resulted in the emergence of different books and essays on the subject. In this regard, Professor Paul Bandia, from Concordia University (Canada), has argued on many occasions that African literatures and cultures constitute an interesting case for the study of the theory and practice of translation beyond Eurocentric and normative models. In one of his latest keynote speeches, ‘Translation, Postcolonialism and Beyond', presented at the Colloquium ‘Moving Bodies Across Transland’, held at the University of Lisbon (Portugal), he underlined the importance of rethinking traditional approaches to translation as well as the necessity of relooking and questioning everlasting dichotomies, such as original vs. copy, coloniser vs. colonised, us vs. them, Global North vs. Global South, etc. In the following interview, which took place during the celebration of the aforementioned Colloquium, Professor Paul Bandia discusses the main themes and ideas that characterise his work and underlines new and highly interesting perspectives for the future of Translation Studies.

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Why is it important?

Keywords: Postcolonial Translation Studies, African literature, translation, multilingualism, heteroglossia, translocation