Translation and Cultural Hegemony From the Perspective of Foucault’s Power-Discourse Theory

Abstract

With the “linguistic turn” in 20th-century Western philosophy, the French post-structuralist thinker and philosopher Michel Foucault introduced the theory of power discourse. Foucault’s power discourse theory elucidates the interrelationship between power, knowledge, and discourse: knowledge symbolizes power, discourse is the form of power expression, and cultural forces controlling the knowledge-power discourse can achieve cultural dominance. Dominant cultures, with their advanced scientific and technological knowledge, acquire the power of speech in cultural exchanges and manipulate weaker cultures. Translation, as an essential tool for communication between different cultures, is inevitably influenced by this cultural hegemony, as reflected in the translator’s choice of translation subjects and strategies. Translation is no longer merely a tool for language conversion but a form of dialogue and exchange constrained by different power discourses. Weaker cultures can resist the cultural hegemony of dominant cultures by adopting foreignization strategies to introduce their superior cultural elements.