Translation and the Question of Minorities

Abstract

The reconstruction of concepts ma(r)king differences through translation addresses the Koselleckian Differenzbestimmung between conceptual and social history. Based on the productive relation between translation and culture that is defined by Benjamin (2002) as translatability as well as on Fanon’s (2008) analysis of the adaptability, hence, the translatability of racism into language and culture, translation can be defined as a political tool that deals with differences: It ensures the survival of the original and is an act of violence, through which identities are created. Translation either generates life or condemns differences to cultural death.