Translation as Cultural Politics: Rewriting Gender, Culture, and Identity in the English Translation of Umrao Jan Ada

Qudsi Rizvi

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i02.73918

Translation as Cultural Politics: Rewriting Gender, Culture, and Identity in the English Translation of Umrao Jan Ada

Author(s)	Dr. Qudsi Rizvi
Country	India
Abstract	Translation is often perceived as a process of linguistic transfer; however, such a view overlooks its role in shaping cultural meaning and social understanding. This paper examines translation as a site of cultural politics by analyzing the English translation of Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s Umrao Jan Ada. Situated within the socio-cultural milieu of nineteenth-century Lucknow, the original Urdu text presents a layered representation of tawaif culture, where questions of gender, performance, and social hierarchy are intricately intertwined. When translated into English, these culturally embedded meanings undergo subtle yet significant transformations. Using the English translation by David Matthews (2001) as the primary text, this study explores how translation mediates between linguistic systems while simultaneously negotiating cultural difference. The paper argues that translation operates as an act of rewriting, wherein cultural concepts, social relations, and narrative voice are reshaped to align with the expectations of a different readership. Through close textual analysis, it demonstrates how key elements such as forms of address, culturally specific terms, and poetic insertions are either simplified, reinterpreted, or partially displaced in translation. The study further examines how these shifts affect the representation of the tawaif, whose position in the Urdu text reflects a complex interplay of marginality and cultural authority. In translation, this complexity is often moderated, leading to a reconfiguration of gendered identity within more familiar interpretive frameworks. Occasional reference to the English translations of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry highlights similar patterns of cultural and aesthetic transformation. By foregrounding the relationship between translation, power, and representation, this paper seeks to reposition translation as an active cultural practice rather than a neutral medium. It contributes to ongoing discussions in translation studies by demonstrating how literary translation participates in the production and circulation of postcolonial identities.
Keywords	Translation, Cultural Politics, Umrao Jan Ada, Postcolonial Identity, Cultural Representation
Field	Sociology > Linguistic / Literature
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 2, March-April 2026
Published On	2026-04-09
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i02.73918

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Translation as Cultural Politics: Rewriting Gender, Culture, and Identity in the English Translation of Umrao Jan Ada

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