The Politics of Translating Bangladeshi Literature into English: Cultural Representation, Ideological Mediation, and Power

Abstract

This article explores how Bangla literature reaches English readers—which routes, by whom, with what representational effects—in translations published 1967–2024. Bangladeshi literature is mostly accessed globally in English. Yet the paths and politics of that dissemination remain unstudied. A mixed-method design combines descriptive translation studies, translation sociology and postcolonial critique. The population comprises English-translated Bangladeshi literature. The sample is a verified corpus of 39 books. Titles and publishers' descriptions are mapped quantitatively. Ten epitexts and four case studies are analysed qualitatively. The field is triangulated: a Dhaka national-patronage pole produces translations but cannot distribute widely; a semi-peripheral Indian relay links Dhaka to global markets; a metropolitan centre consecrates selectively. Each pole frames Bangladesh differently. Translations resist in sentences yet be domesticated by paratexts. The article proposes semi-peripheral relay and mediated legibility as concepts. Core–periphery and postcolonial translation theory should account for regional intermediaries within one target language.