Remapping Habitus: Norms, Habitus and the Theorisation of Agency in Translation Practice and Translation Scholarship

The recent shift from “translation studies” to “translator studies” marks the increasing interest in the field in understanding the modes of translator’s agency and the different theoretical and practical issues these modes raise. The Bourdieusian concept of habitus and the explanatory power it wields have been instrumental in developing new conceptualisations of agency in translation. This article seeks to achieve a double purpose: first, siting the concept of habitus as used in translation studies, shedding light on the (dis)continuities between it and the concept of translation norms; second, siting the meta-language we use in defining the concept and delineating its impact on both the epistemology and methodology of translation studies. As such, the article critically engages with the project of “remapping” which motivates this volume with the aim of highlighting its potentials and limitations. The case of the Arabic translations of Shakespeare’s drama, especially the early Arabic translation of Hamlet by Tanyus Abdu, is used to illustrate the implications of habitus for understanding the agency of both translators and translation scholars.