By Graham Liddell
On November 12, 2021, an all-day symposium entitled “Translation and the Making of Arab American Community” was held at the University of Michigan. The event brought together civil servants, journalists, poets, literary translators, and academics to discuss the multiple levels at which translation operates in Arab American communities in the Midwest, and especially in Michigan.
Speakers discussed translation as a crucial ingredient for matters of public health, education, civic engagement, media representation, and public history. Others warned of pervasive pitfalls in the realm of literary translation, and detailed the political and ethical stakes of the practice. But while much is at risk of being “lost” in translation, the Arab American community is a testament to the many ways in which it is also a generative force.
The bilingual poetry reading that brought the event to a close served as just one example of translation’s enriching qualities: it provides a multidimensional experience of art that would not otherwise be possible.
The event, which fell under the umbrella of the seminar “Translation for the Community,” was co-sponsored by the Comparative Literature and Middle East Studies Departments and the Arab and Muslim American Studies Program. It was organized by Khaled Mattawa, a renowned literary translator and professor of English at UM, and Graham Liddell, a PhD candidate in UM’s Department of Comparative Literature.
Watch videos of the event’s proceedings below
PANEL 1: Translation for Community Needs
This discussion focused on the translation and interpretation services that are crucial for maintaining wellness and facilitating civic engagement and personal development among Limited English Proficiency (LEP) communities in Michigan, particularly Arab Americans. Moderated by Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine (professor at UM-Dearborn), the panel included Karen Phillippi (director of the Office of Global Michigan), Anisa Sahoubah (director of ACCESS’s Youth and Education department), and Bilal Hammoud (chair of the Language Access Task Force for the State of Michigan).
PANEL 2: Arab American Media
This panel centered on the ways that Midwest Arab American communities past and present have represented themselves in media. Moderated by Graham Liddell (Ph.D. candidate, UM), the panel included Ali Harb (reporter for Al Jazeera English), Hani Bawardi (professor at UM-Dearborn), William Youmans (professor at the George Washington University), and Lana Barkawi (Executive and Artistic Director of Mizna).
PANEL 3: Living in Translation
Our final panel featured a conversation between three prominent Arab-American authors and translators about the aesthetics and politics of Arabic–English translation, within and beyond the realm of literature. Moderated by Nancy R. Roberts (translator of Arabic fiction), the panel included Khaled Mattawa (poet, translator, and professor at UM), Fady Joudah (poet, physician, and translator), and Dunya Mikhail (poet and lecturer at Oakland University).
POETRY READING: Dunya Mikhail
