The uncharted experience of women translators of the Qur’an in Turkey
Sema Üstün Külünk
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Title
The uncharted experience of women translators of the Qur’an in Turkey
Abstract
The translation of the Qur’an has a long tradition in Turkey. Although it hosts a diverse and rich translational texture, the field is, unfortunately but not surprisingly, governed by an androcentric voice. Women’s contribution is considerably weak compared to hundreds of Qur’an translations by men. To this date there are only three translations by women in Turkey. The first was undertaken by Medine Balcı (1991), who avoids guided reading of the Qur’an and opts for interlinear-verbatim translation, the second by Necla Yasdıman (2006), who instrumentalizes the Qur’an as a grammar book for Arabic language instruction, and the third by Ayşa Zeynep Abdullah (2019), who overtly challenges patriarchal biases in the reading of the sacred text. The present study aims to uncover the mechanisms behind the marginalized Qur’an translations by the three women and to give voice to their silenced agency in the field. By comparing and analyzing these unique cases, I outline the particularities of Turkish translations of the Qur’an by women while questioning the feminist agenda (or absence thereof). This uncharted status of Turkish Qur’an translations by women translators reveals how discourse can determine positions and modes of certain translations in a cultural system.
Keywords
women translators, Qur’an translation, female agency, habitus, Turkey
34(1) - 2022