Constructing the Self as a Translator: An Ethnographic Study Exploring the Saudi Translators’ Identification Processes on Twitter

Abstract

Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms in Saudi Arabia, with over 12 million users. Since 2016, a growing number of translators in Saudi Arabia have been utilizing this platform to connect and interact with each other, creating a network of Saudi translators on the platform. The goal of this thesis is to explore how the Saudi translators construct their identity as professional translators on Twitter since the emergence of their network by investigating the impact of their Twitter interactions on their identification processes. To achieve this goal, the study follows a multi-sited internet ethnography where Twitter is conceptualized as an ethnographic field site for participant observation, in addition to conducting semi-structured interviews with ten Saudi professional translators from this Twitter network to gain an in-depth look into their experiences on the platform.

Examining the manifestations of the concept of identification, described as a process of constructing the self by recognizing similarities and differences between the self and other during social interaction, highlights identification as processual and continuous. More specifically, the manifestations of the Saudi translators’ identification processes in their discursive practices on Twitter reflect their perceptions of visibility to one another motivated by finding a sense of belonging to a professional community for Saudi translators. This visibility fuels their perceptions of (having) power as a form of influence on the platform. Finally, (gaining) recognition of the self as a translator and translation as professional practice in Saudi Arabia is viewed as an outcome of (self-)representation practices. Exploring the Saudi translators’ identification processes on Twitter reveals the nuances in constructing a professional identity on the platform particularly in a professional network. More importantly as well, it reveals the concept’s ontological dimension as a process of becoming.