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Article published In:
Translation and LGBT+/queer activism
Edited by Michela Baldo, Jonathan Evans and Ting Guo
[Translation and Interpreting Studies 16:2] 2021
► pp. 240–262

Accessing Bodies that Matter

On queer activist practices of translation

ORCID logo | University of Warsaw
ORCID logo | University of Warsaw
ORCID logo | University of Warsaw

In this self-reflexive paper, co-written by scholars currently collaborating on the Polish translation of Judith Butler’s Bodies that Matter, we discuss the political and activist stakes of translating a canonical queer theory text over 25 years after its original publication, in the context of anti-lgbtq+ public discourse in today’s Poland. We argue that the collective character of our translation process turns it into an activist workshop that negotiates social norms and works on the invention and application of their alternatives. This activist practice results in a programmatically accessible translation, written in gender-inclusive and queer-sensitive language that follows the poststructuralist philosophical underpinnings of the 1993 source text and its gendered language. Discussing examples of Butler’s use of grammatical gender and her politicized style in our translation, the article contributes to understanding the queer activist practice of translation and, specifically, underwritten questions of translating queer theory in a contemporary Polish (linguistic) context.

Keywords: queer translation, queer studies, Judith Butler, Bodies that Matter , Poland, gender
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Bodies that Matter between the academy and activism
  • Queer theory and the activist practice of translation
  • Queer and grammatical gender
  • Style and political impact
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.19064.kra
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