Born with Wings: Spiritual and Feminist Autobiography in Translation

Abstract

Abstract The interdisciplinary discourse of autobiographical writing opened the scholarly discussion of the apposite translation practices involved in the translation process. Namely, Muslim women’s spiritual autobiography often raises questions due to the juxtaposition of feminism and Islamic legislations. This dissertation examines the translation approach followed in translating a feminist Muslim woman’s autobiography to Arab Muslim women. Taking into account the most prominent features reflected in the autobiography, the dissertation aims to answer a question of how to transfer feminist, cultural and spiritual elements of the author’s identity.

Relying on fundamental theoretical framework, a set of suggested strategies were employed to achieve the goal of this dissertation. Feminist translation strategies highlighted the author’s feminist voice in the target text. Furthermore, thick translation technique enriched the target text by providing annotated translation for culture-specific items. Moreover, a thorough analysis of religious allusion facilitated the transference into the target language. The aforementioned strategies refined the translation product to function as a motivation for further publication in the feminist autobiographies domain. Nonetheless, it recommends a comprehensive approach in tackling religious texts in spiritual autobiographies.