Subtitling Francophone World Cinema: Narratives of Identity, Alterity and Power in Audiovisual Translation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Cultures, Languages & Area Studie
Abstract
The proposed research project will explore the (re)construction and representation of linguistic and
cultural hybridity in subtitled film. Specifically, it will investigate how subtitles draw on aural and visual
signs within the polysemiotic filmic text to produce systems of representation through which linguistic
and cultural hybridity may be (re)constructed. In approaching my topic, I will employ Homi Bhabha's
(1994) postcolonial translation theory framework to propose a reconceptualization of subtitling as an act
of "translation and negotiation" that takes place in the "third space", or the space "in-between" the audio
and visual codes of the filmic text. Drawing on Bhabha, I ask: how do the "productive capacities" of this
"third space" engender multiple possibilities for (re)constructing and representing linguistic and cultural
hybridity in subtitled film?
cultural hybridity in subtitled film. Specifically, it will investigate how subtitles draw on aural and visual
signs within the polysemiotic filmic text to produce systems of representation through which linguistic
and cultural hybridity may be (re)constructed. In approaching my topic, I will employ Homi Bhabha's
(1994) postcolonial translation theory framework to propose a reconceptualization of subtitling as an act
of "translation and negotiation" that takes place in the "third space", or the space "in-between" the audio
and visual codes of the filmic text. Drawing on Bhabha, I ask: how do the "productive capacities" of this
"third space" engender multiple possibilities for (re)constructing and representing linguistic and cultural
hybridity in subtitled film?
