This study delves into the universe of sijo, classical Korean chant poetry, through a formal and thematic analysis of the anthological work “Sijô: Poesiacanto Coreana Clássica”, the only sijo compendium translated into Brazilian Portuguese by Yun Jung In and Alberto Marsicano in 1994. The research explores the origin of sijo, its recurring themes and examines its musical aspect and graphic layout. Based on the compilation by Yun Jung Im and Alberto Marsicano, the work seeks to uncover the most important characteristics of this poetic genre, revealing its beauty and cultural richness. In this case, the translation of the work in question plays a crucial role as a tool of intertextuality. By introducing sijo to the Brazilian public, the translation opens doors to cultural dialogue and to the formation of cultural identities of chant poetry in Brazil. Therefore, this work also seeks to examine, through an intertextual-cultural analysis, how the translation of sijo can inspire new translators to venture into this poetic genre. The theoretical basis will be Kristeva (1974) on intertextuality and translation as an intertextual process; Bakhtin (2003) on translation as dialogue; Bassnett (2002) on the role of translation in fostering intercultural dialogue involving peripheral cultures; and Venuti (1998) on the formation of cultural identities. At the end of the research, we hope to be able to affirm that, by having access to concrete, high-quality examples, Brazilian translators can be inspired by the forms and techniques of sijo, expanding the range of poetic possibilities in our language and that the translation of sijo contributes to expanding knowledge about Korean culture, stimulating intercultural dialog and opening the way to new poetic creations.

Any textual process is an encounter, a willing engagement with difference; every single act of reading and writing is intersubjective- between individuals located in different time spaces and temporal locations; making it cross-cultural. All literary texts are situated in a particular time, space, and structure of feeling and the textual practices of writing and reading are acts of engaging with difference. Translation also, being a textual process, is an encounter with alterity. Difference being a relational concept, the process of translation enables the comparison of differences in language, because of the attempt made by the translator who is willing to go to the other side and engage with difference.

This paper aims to analyze translation, through a comparative approach, that is, focusing on the willingness to engage with alterity across cultural differences. It attempts to explore the ethics of cross-cultural encounters through literary texts, specifically a text in the source language Malayalam translated into the target language English, thus providing insights into various aspects of engaging with alterity. The literary text in consideration is a short story titled “ജനൽപ്പടിയിലെ വിളക്ക്” by Kamala Das which translates to “Lamp on the Windowsill”, which is a part of the author’s autobiography “എൻ്റെ കഥ” (My Story). The concepts put forth by scholars like S. A Syeed, Ipshita Chanda, Ignacio Infante, Hans Jauss, Jaques Derrida, and Venuti Lawrence will be taken into account to understand the ethics of translation.

We enquire into the potential role of ‘translation,’ in its broadest sense, in addressing racial injustice, social inequality, climate change, sickness, and other global concerns. Following the question of poet and critic Fred Morten, can we think of ‘making’ and ‘repair’ as diffused into a rhythmic flow? Can we imagine making it a form of repairing the existing ‘order.’ This reminds us of the ‘piecemeal construction’ of Kafka in his short story titled “The Great Wall of China”. Analysing the great failure in the construction of the Biblical Tower of Babel, Kafka suggested that the piecemeal construction process that the Chinese followed should be the ideal way of construction. To construct the wall as a succession of pieces, a large number of employees were divided into many groups and scattered in various directions. Taking ‘piecemeal construction’ as a useful constructional endeavour in the synergy of ‘black translation,’ which repairs, connects, heals, redresses and generates conversations, builds communes and most importantly nurtures South-South collaboration.

To think black, to feel, to see, to touch, and to taste, we need to look at the resonance between ‘black’ and ‘translation’. Both have been objectified and often conceptualised against ‘light,’ ‘source,’ ‘original,’ ‘fair,’ and ‘pure'. Extending our inquiry further, we can gaze on a similar binary, like ‘west’ and ‘east,’ which later, in the wake of postcolonialism, became ‘first world’ and ‘third world,’ and in the current era of neoliberalism/ globalisation rebranded as ‘global north’ and 'global south’.

This paper wants to look at ‘repair’ as an act of ‘black translation,’ where we will take measures towards redressal of social injustice and healing of wounds created by the environmental Anthropocene through self-fashioning translation projects by looking at practices of translation in South Asia. The idea of ‘non-recognition’ therefore should be used as a weapon—political, social, racial, and academic—to challenge the subtlety through which the Global North operates and tags everything as ‘global’ and ‘universal’. Can the notion of the South be applied to areas of social life that are not directly related to development differences, such as those involving the formation of one’s own identity?

Using concepts like ‘translation as fission, evolution, reparation, and healing,’ available in the translational practices of pre-colonial South Asia, can we heal environmental calamities and sustain world peace and ecological holism by using ‘black translation’ as a methodological apparatus? Can we foster ‘black translation’ as a ‘contact zone,’ a ‘fluid space,’ a ‘liquefied medium,’ for flows of immigration, racial arrhythmia, sexual non-binaries, and decolonial insurgency? Since the current disciplinary discourses of translation studies fail to adequately address the issues and concerns of the Global South, then it is time to un-light and think black.

In recent years, the concept of “reparation” has come to the fore, particularly in connection with decolonization issues (Savoy/Sarr). Reparation practices are seen first and foremost as strategies for restoring lost symmetry, whether through reparation or reappropriation. However, they are also a form of cultural resistance that can alter perceptions of the world, personal projects and lifestyles. In this context, it is above all the process of repair, as a practice, that deserves to be examined, as the question remains whether we can truly repair and compensate: “We can only repair well what we renounce to restore to its initial state”. (Boucheron) This awareness of the irreparable was formulated by Bachir Diagne when he described “the loss of humanity” as irreparable and pleaded: “Just address the irreparable”.

I wish to explore the phenomenon of reparation through literary texts, in particular literary translations made at different times and in different languages, in order to develop a global socio-political understanding of reparation through the ages. Translations, including revisions of older translations, can be seen as vectors of reparation that transmit knowledge, while helping to both reinforce and initiate discourses on reparation, while also critically interrogating them. In linguistic terms, translations can not only address decolonization, but also renegotiate issues of gender (for example, the representation of the feminine or the non-binary). After analyzing theoretical reflections on reparation and translation, notably those of Souleymane Bachir Diagne in De langue à langue: L'hospitalité de la traduction, I would like to examine examples of specific translations.

Translators have observed that the residues remaining to be transgressed, transported, and translated are the obstructed meanings in the contact zone or border zone of untranslatable original language when translating from one language to another culturally and linguistically. In order to ascertain the authorial "unintended" intention of the original language, the unblocking technique is required. In the 21st century, the only feasible method of surmounting the barrier of untranslatability across languages and cultures appears to be through a magic door of Wonderland that must be opened by the peculiar Other, which manifests in the form of the environment both within and without human consciousness: ecology and technology. Human neurological structures, which represent the natural world within, are constituted of neurons that are constructed and subsequently directed by the interaction between genes and the environment. This neurological structure functions analogously to a multi-dimensional map for the AI that represents technology without. The data-processing circuits or pathways will be formed by algorithmically programmed collected data, which will be transformed into feedback loops. In order to endure the new ecological environment, both human intelligence and artificial intelligence function as organic and inorganic organs. This presentation will endeavor to conceptualize translation in the context of the eco-techno turn by examining the organic and inorganic components of translational texts, which, despite their inorganic nature, create an organic text that is living and sustaining in its own environment.