THE CONCEPT OF ROOTEDNESS IN TRANSLATION STUDIES

Abstract

This study explores the concept of rootedness as a theoretical and practical category within contemporary translation studies. Traditionally overshadowed by notions of mobility, hybridity, and cultural fluidity, rootedness has remained underexplored despite its significance for understanding the translator’s identity, ethics, and sociocultural positioning. In contrast to the idealized image of the neutral or “invisible” translator, this paper presents rootedness as a dynamic framework that encompasses cultural, linguistic, ideological, and affective embeddedness. The analysis draws on foundational theories by Antoine Berman, Lawrence Venuti, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said, situating rootedness at the intersection of postcolonial critique, translator subjectivity, and cultural resistance. The research emphasizes that rootedness should not be equated with essentialism or nationalism, but rather with an awareness of one’s situatedness in cultural history and linguistic tradition. It explores how the translator’s conscious (or unconscious) rootedness influences translational strategies, ethical choices, and audience engagement, especially when working with marginalized or subaltern voices. Particular attention is given to the Ukrainian context, especially since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. The paper examines how Ukrainian translators – many of whom have been displaced or forced into exile – negotiate rootedness amid trauma, loss, and geopolitical rupture. Case studies include the cultural and translational activism of Iryna Starovoyt, Ostap Slyvynsky’s War Diaries project, and the international initiatives led by Kateryna Kazimirova and the Translators for Ukraine collective. These examples demonstrate that rootedness can be reconstituted under conditions of forced migration, functioning as a resource for cultural resilience, ethical authorship, and national representation in the global literary field. By combining theoretical perspectives with contemporary empirical examples, this study proposes rootedness as a productive category for translation theory – one that challenges the false binary between local and global, and affirms the translator’s role as both cultural mediator and politically engaged subject. The findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of translation as a context-dependent, ethically charged, and ideologically situated act, particularly in contexts of postcolonial transition and wartime crisis.