Othman (Ahd), Eurocentrism, Quranic Translation and Decoloniality, London, Routledge, 2024, 232 p. ISBN 978-1032520926

Author

Ahd Othman, Visiting Research Associate at the University of Bristol

Presentation

Eurocentrism, Qurʾanic Translation and Decoloniality contributes to the understanding of Eurocentrism in Translation Studies and engages with the concept through the lens of scholarship on Arabic and Qurʾan translation.

This book calls for a deeper consideration of Eurocentrism as essential for several debates in the discipline, including its scientific character and future development. It claims that the angle of Arabic and Qurʾan translation is a valuable - and nearly unexploited - area where tensions in translation scholarship can play out in revealing ways. The book also draws connections between Eurocentrism, Qurʾan translation and decolonial thought in order to highlight ’decoloniality’ as a useful framework for imagining a post-Eurocentric discipline.

Table

Arabic transliteration key

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter I – Eurocentrism: a conceptual framework

1.1 Europe as a cultural unity

1.2 Greece and Rome

1.3 The Judeo-Christian tradition

1.4 Enlightenment and science

1.5 European superiority: solipsism and power

Eurocentrism’s problems in TS

1.6 Reservations about the critique of Eurocentrism

Conclusion

Chapter II – Quantifying Eurocentrism: a bibliometric approach

2.1 Sampling Arabic translation

2.2 Bibliometrics

2.3 Quantifying Eurocentrism

2.4 Scope of data and tools

2.5 Data results and analysis

2.5.1 The Bibliography of Interpreting and Translation (BITRA)

2.5.2 The Translation Studies Bibliography (TSB)

Limitations of the bibliometric approach

2.6 Methodologies, scientificity and Eurocentrism

The qualitative-quantitative divide

Conclusion

Chapter III – Eurocentrism through a qualitative lens: the case of Qurʾan translation

3.1 Sampling Qurʾan translation

3.2 Thematic Analysis

3.3 Themes and subthemes identified in the articles

3.3.1 Qurʾan translation with biblical touchstones

(a) Christian translators’ key role in Qurʾan translation history

(b) Biblical referentiality

(c) (Un)translatability

(d) Linguistic focus and Translation Quality Assessment (TQA)

3.3.2 Politics of representation

(e) The Qurʾan in the scheme of things

(f) Regimes of epistemic authority

(g) Macro-narratives

Conclusion

Chapter IV – Decoloniality, liberation theology and translation

4.1 Reference works

4.2 Decoloniality and Translation Studies

4.3 Decoloniality and liberatory Islam

Islamic liberation theology

4.4 Tawhid and Qurʾan translation

Implications for translation

4.5 Other ‘others’

Conclusion

Concluding remarks

Appendix 1: 50 most frequent words in the ‘subject’ field of the BITRA sample

Appendix 2: 25 most frequent words in the ‘keyword’ field of the TSB sample

Appendix 3: Codes generated and compiled after the first coding sweep

Appendix 4: Codes refined and grouped after the second coding sweep

Index