Translating Trauma: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Translator Agency in the Virgin of Sinjar ‘Athraa Sinjar’ عذراء سنجار

This paper employs Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological framework to examine the translator’s role in mediating symbolic power through six selected Arabic excerpts from عذراء سنجار (Athraa Sinjar). Two passages were chosen for each of three thematic clusters: (1) symbolic power and mass obedience. (2) dehumanization of Yazidi women, and (3) physical violence, and translated into English for close textual analysis. The study explores how the translator’s habitus informs linguistic choices, how varying forms of capital (cultural, social, symbolic) shape translation decisions, and how illusio guides the emotional and ethical investments underpinning translation practices. Through this reflexive analysis, the paper illuminates the translator as an agent navigating the literary field, negotiating power relations, and shaping the novel’s insertion into global discourses on minority trauma and cultural representation. The study contributes to translation sociology by offering a model for integrating translator agency with textual practice.