Chapter 6
The bee and the flower
Locating semiotic hospitality in biotranslation
This chapter is an attempt to understand human translation of cultural texts generated through human agency as a
structural continuation of biotranslation prevalent in the natural world. It begins by analysing bee communication and orchid
mimicry as examples of biotranslation located within the tripartite biosemiotic model of Carlo Brentari, following Jakob von
Uexküll, and finally arrives at a method in translation studies that prioritises cooperative engagements through an inclusive
theory of semiotic hospitality. For this, the model of the Samavasarana from Jain philosophy is applied, both because of its
ecological expanse, and its structural affinity to Brentari’s biosemiotic model. Concluding Kierkegaard’s temporal realm of
human concerns to be the reason for functional cleavage between the semiosphere from the biosphere, resetting that connection
is the purpose of this article.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Part I
- Translation as semiotic mediation
- Translation as biosemiotic mediation
- The bee and the flower
- Kalevi Kull, Peeter Torop and Kobus Marais: Setting up categories of biotranslation and eutranslation
- Part II
- The structure of the Samavasarana: The refuge of all beings
-
References