Congratulations to the winner of the Cheney Essay Prize

The Cheney Prize for essays in Arts and Social Sciences has been awarded to David Weeks for his essay, “Decolonising translation: is translating indigenous literature into the languages of the colonisers problematic?”. Members of the Judging Committee, Tom Sinclair, Hannah Christensen, and Arran Davis, described the essay as a “readable, interesting, and sophisticated discussion of problems associated with translation from the language of colonized people to the language of the colonisers. The essay combines a very good review of the literature, which is thorough and critical, with a good presentation of arguments and evaluation of alternative viewpoints. The essay is subtle and politically engaged without being didactic, and it wears its impressive depth of reading and understanding lightly.”

David, a 3rd-year undergraduate student of Italian and Spanish, is currently on his year abroad, teaching English in Italy. He told us about his inspiration for “Decolonising translation: is translating indigenous literature into the languages of the colonisers problematic?”:

"I was inspired to write on this topic after studying indigenist and indigenous literature in South America as part of my degree. I wanted to learn more about the connections and contradictions between these works, especially in imperial and post-imperial contexts. My reading quickly pointed to translation as a key point of tension, in both South America and India: I found that the subtle subversion of meaning which translation always involves can become particularly pronounced when translating native languages to the languages of colonial powers (in my essay, Spanish and English). Studying abroad in Argentina, especially with the Quechua resources of the National Library in Buenos Aires, was also a big help in deepening my research and putting my ideas into writing."

Many congratulations to David on his prize-winning essay.