Conversion, Translation and the Language of Autobiography: Re-inventing the Self in Transitions to Christianity in India (1700-1947)

The project addresses the question of how translation serves to transform ideas between geographical locations, historical moments and cultural contexts. This project is innovative on two counts: first, it argues that translation plays a key transformative role when religions travel from one culture to another; second, it analyses parallels between translation processes and religious conversion. These two issues will be investigated in the context of how western translation concepts and practices introduced in South Asia from the eighteenth century onwards fundamentally changed the way South Asians understood religious faith and identity.

The collaborators will apply a new set of translation questions on the transfer of religious concepts and identities in South Asia: how did translations of sacred texts into and out of Indian languages undertaken by European scholars from the early eighteenth century introduce new ways of constructing, defining and framing religious concepts in South Asia? The project team bring a fresh approach to the study of South Asian religions by arguing that this conceptual aspect of translation is intrinsic to the way religions began to be viewed, compared and categorized in the Indian context: whether core concepts could or could not be translated into other languages often determined whether a religion was considered a religion at all by European scholars.

The team will explore conceptual links between the translation of values and concepts across languages and the nature of conversion, in particular religious conversion. 'Translation' and 'conversion' are closely linked conceptually since both refer to processes of change and transformation. Although change is a fundamental aspect of both, it is not always clear how we understand why and how transformation occurs and what purpose it serves. Since the cognitive processes involved in both cases of transformation are available to us only through language, an analysis of shifts in linguistic terms reveal fundamental conceptual shifts. This project is innovative in the application of both conceptual and linguistic frameworks of translation in order to understand how the process of religious conversion can best be understood by an examination of changes in language choice. The investigators will examine parallel concerns regarding authenticity that vexes both translation and religious conversion where doubts regarding the sincerity of conversion are for the first time conceptually linked to translation anxieties regarding successfully "carrying across".

The collaborators will examine twenty conversion autobiographies written by South Asian converts to Protestant Christianity from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century in Tamil and Marathi and their translation into German and English. Social, political and intellectual reorientations in South Asia from the eighteenth century onwards meant that individuals experienced changes in many areas including the spiritual, which often required developing new vocabularies with which to describe these changes. The team will study shifts in how eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth-century South Asians represented their changed religious identities in their autobiographies, 'translating' or 'converting' lived experience into text and expressing their change in faith with a newly acquired religious terminology. They will investigate the selection of particular religious terminology when these conversion accounts were translated into German and/or English. They will also examine how the writing and translation of conversion accounts advanced Christian concepts to an Indian audience and to what extent conversion to Christianity was articulated differently across the three centuries. Through their analyses, the team aim to highlight the distinctive nature of translation in its ability to constitute and transform religious cultures.

In the UK, the government has indicated through policy documents that interfaith dialogue and other faith-based interventions have a significant role to play in the development of social cohesion. Such initiatives have been identified by the Government as a key feature of its policy objective of 'bringing people together in strong, united communities'. The act of conversion is a contentious area that can frequently create tensions between religious communities; relations between Hindu and Christian communities both in the UK and India have been strained partly as a result of general perceptions of the history of conversion and missionary practices. The project proposes to address this issue directly in the context of interfaith dialogue, providing resources for discussion of the conversion experience in a way which is both personalized (i.e. based on personal narratives) and sufficiently distanced in historical time to allow for measured reflection. The project will seek to encourage dialogue and reflection on these issues in a number of ways, and by engaging with a number of constituencies. Three main interest groups have been identified: a) interfaith practitioners, working with members of the South Asian communities in the UK from Christian, Hindu, Islamic and Sikh backgrounds; b) churches with large South Asian membership; and c) specialist organizations that support churches and missionaries working with South Asian communities in the UK.

The investigators will collaborate with the following organizations, who have all indicated that they are prepared to host or take part in project-centred events:
-South Asia Concern, a London-based organization focused on issues in the South Asian diaspora, from a Christian perspective
-The Henry Martyn Centre, a Cambridge-based organization focused on world Christianity
-The Hindu-Christian Forum, a national organization committed to developing Hindu-Christian relations
-The Faith to Faith Forum, a Christian organisation offering consultancy and networking services to practitioners who wish to engage with people of other faiths.

Some additional links and trajectories of engagement are planned as part of the project:
-Churches with large South Asian communities in the UK are interested in 'reaching out' to South Asians in the UK as well as being involved in providing support and ongoing teaching to South Asian converts.
-The Nehru Centre in London (the Indian equivalent of the British Council worldwide) organises a wide range of cultural events on its premises, showcasing Indian culture, including lectures, workshops, seminars and round tables, aimed at strengthening the intellectual dialogue between India and the UK. A presentation bringing out the literary and translation aspects of the project for a general audience along with discussion of what this means for community understanding today would be in keeping with the Centre's aims.
-The project website will be a resource for academics, missionary practitioners and the general public interested in the issues raised by the project. On-going information will be provided by collaborators in three main ways: by providing resources specifically designed to encourage interfaith dialogue; by providing a catalogue of conversion autobiographies; by maintaining a blog where the different collaborative partners offer regular posts on findings, with comments from project advisors and partners.
-Educational resources: the project seeks to have an impact on social cohesion agendas through the provision of materials for use in the English A Level Religious Studies curriculum and the Scottish Highers. Teaching materials will be developed and made available on the project website to support learning about issues of religious conversion and interfaith relations
-Interfaith Week 2016: the project aims to develop an event that initiates practical faith linked dialogues told through personal stories of individual conversion.