Translating Derrida on Translation: Relevance and Disciplinary Resistance

This essay is an exploration of the theoretical and practical problems posed by translating Jacques Derrida's essay "What is a 'relevant' translation?" into English, given the peculiar marginality of translation in academic institutions, especially in the United States. Whereas cultural studies exhibits a theoreticism that strips translation of its material specificity, translation studies exhibits an empiricism that suppresses the philosophical and political implications of translation. These limitations motivated translation strategies that aim not only to address the two constituencies in terms that are intelligible to each, but to alter the very terms in which we understand and study translation.