Translating the Language of the Syrian Revolution (2011/12)

Eylaf Bader Eddin, De Gruyter, 283 p.

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110767698

Ouvrage publié avec le soutien de l'IREMAM

While the Arab revolutions have obviously triggered extensive social and political changes, the far-reaching consequences of the cultural and discursive changes have yet to be adequately considered. For activists, researchers, and journalists, the revolution was primarily a revolution in language; a break with the linguistic oppression and the rigidity of the old regimes. This break was accompanied by the emergence of new languages, which made it possible to inform, tell, and translate the ongoing events and transformations. This language of the revolution was carried out into the world by competing voices from Syria (by local and foreign researchers, activists, and journalists). The core of this project is to find the various translations of the language of the Syrian revolution (2011–2012) from Arabic to English to study and analyze. In addition, the discursive and non-discursive dimensions of the revolution are to be seen as another act of translation, including the language of the banners, slogans, graffiti, songs, and their representation in English.

Eylaf Bader Eddin is a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Marburg in Figures of Thought | Turning Points program. He has studied English, Arabic and Comparative Literature in Damascus, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, and Marburg. From 2004 to 2009, he studied English language and literature at the University of Damascus. He received his MA in 2014 from the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis (Paris 8), and his thesis was entitled “(Un)-Translating Slogans of the Syrian Revolution.” From 2015 to 2020, he studied in the Cotutelle doctoral program of the University of Aix-Marseille and Philipps-Universität Marburg. His doctoral dissertation is entitled “Translating the Language of the Syrian Revolution 2011-2012” (Co-directed by Richard Jacquemond, AMU, IREMAM and Friederike Pannewick, Philipps-University, Marburg).