Introduction
This book aims to contribute towards the general understanding of how translation is used to create and/or disseminate narratives to shape the public’s perception of a particular religion or people, in this case, Islam and Muslims. With this in mind, the chapter first explains the important, yet unacknowledged, role of translation, for and by the media, in creating and sustaining public narratives about specific events and peoples. It then examines in detail the phenomenon of Islamophobia which, we argue, is the direct result of negative media representation of the Qur’an, Islam and Muslims in Britain, Spain and Italy, the three countries being examined in this book. Drawing on the results of recent surveys, the chapter identifies the relationship between knowledge of Islam and/or knowing a Muslim and the (un)favourable views of Islam held by the general public in the three aforementioned countries. A detailed literature review of studies focusing specifically on the topic of media representation of Muslims in Britain, Italy and Spain is carried out. The chapter then explores the reasons for this kind of representation of Islam and Muslims, not only in the three sample countries but in Europe in general. Finally, we explore the role of translation for the media in creating and circulating narratives which frame Islam and Muslims in a manner giving rise to Islamophobia.
Translation for and by the Media
The important role played by translation in the formation and dissemination of media narratives cannot be overemphasised, considering that a narrative cannot travel across linguistic and cultural boundaries without the help of translators or trans-editors (e.g. Baker, 2006; Elimam, 2019). Translation, as a process, does not take place in a vacuum; it is surrounded by social and political influences. The process is not merely a direct linguistic transfer but rather involves deliberate acts of selection, construction and omission (Tymoczko and Gentzler, 2002, p. 21). In addition, Baker (2006, p. 106) points out that the translation product is the result of multiple agencies: the act of translation is influenced not only by the translator him/herself but also by the publisher and client, government bodies, commissioners and/or the academic establishment.
In an increasingly globalised world, the press often uses translation in the creation, localisation and dissemination of news stories. The media play a major role in constructing the reader’s perception of world events and are generally expected to give a fair and unbiased portrayal of news stories. Additionally, the power of the press can “influence knowledge, beliefs, values, social relations, and social identities” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 2) and, therefore, so too can translation, as an indispensable tool used in the media. Thornborrow (2004, p. 58) suggests that “the most important and interesting aspects of the potential power of the media from a linguistic point of view are the way that people and events get reported.” Consequently, this can affect the representation of a religion or a people, such as Islam and Muslims.
Research carried out over the past two decades confirms that the media “tend to undermine and challenge certain narratives by the means of reframing,” in particular the “war on terror” metanarrative (Hijjo and Kaur, 2017, p. 23; see also Bolte and Keong, 2014; Abdi and Basaratie, 2016). This (re)framing is partially the result of translation and of the ideological backgrounds of the translator and others involved in the process. Language and translation hold power to not only “steer people’s thoughts and beliefs but also to control their thoughts and beliefs” (Jones and Peccei, 2004, p. 39). As is mentioned later in this chapter, individual British journalists, for example, have been found to make “clearly negative and offensive” statements about Muslims, which contributes to the creation and promotion of negative public narratives about Muslims (Baker, Gabrielatos and McEnery, 2013, p. 254). Journalists can and do act as translators and, working with the publishers and editors involved, use the power of language to consciously, or otherwise, accentuate, undermine and/or modify certain aspects of the events and news to create what are, by media standards, “good” narratives. Therefore, both the media and translation hold power to manipulate events and to change how the readers receive and interpret certain stories about Islam and Muslims (Elimam, 2019).
Translation is not always recognised as a function of, or a tool used by, the press or as having a role in creating or framing a narrative. For example, Omar (2016) examines the role of translation in the Western media’s narrative of the Arab Spring and reports that translators favour certain word choices for a source text term over others, which reflects the political views of the translators and/or the media institution they work for. Additionally, the study finds that translators choose to carry out deliberate manipulations in order to portray a certain ideology in the translation. Om...
