October 11, 2025

Re-presenting the Arab women in contemporary translation of the 19th century travel literature

Key Points

Contemporary translations reveal systematic strategies that align colonial narratives with modern Arab socioreligious norms.
Close analysis of two 19th-century travelogues shows how translators manipulate original texts to challenge Orientalist descriptions.
A combined socio-ethnographical approach provides insights into the complexities of re-presenting Arab women in translated literature.
Translators use methods like omission and paratextual interventions to mediate between historical and contemporary themes.

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the re-presentation of Arab women in modern Arabic translations of two 19th-century British travelogues: John Lewis Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia (1830) and Richard Burton’s Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Mecca (1855). The study analyses how gendered portrayals from colonial-era texts are reinterpreted and re-presented for 21st-century Arabs through translation. A combined socio-ethnographical approach is used to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in re-presenting Arab women in translated works produced for contemporary audiences. Sociologic analysis of translated examples reveals systematic strategies that reflect translators’ habitus and institutional influences to align with modern socioreligious norms, mediating between historical ethnography and contemporary norms. Through close analysis of examples, the paper identifies systematic strategies, including manipulation, omission, toning down contentious terms, and paratextual interventions. Findings highlight the role of translators in challenging 19th-century source-text Orientalist descriptions and in conforming to modern Arab socioreligious norms.

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