On Orality - Thoughts On Decolonising Kashmiri Literature

This short talk by Onaiza Drabu was commissioned for the 2022 BCLT Literary Translation Summer School (18-22 July 2022).

Our speakers for the 2022 short talks and panels were drawn from the Tilted Axis anthology Violent Phenomena: Translation and its Discontents. What does it mean to decolonise literary translation, and is such an endeavour even possible? Contributors from the anthology share their thoughts on how translation can be reimagined and reclaimed in order to dismantle power structures inherent in the literary world.

Onaiza Drabu is a Kashmiri anthropologist and writer. She co-curates a newsletter called Daak, on South Asian literature and art. Her first book, The Legend of Himal and Nagrai - Greatest Kashmiri Folktales was published by Speaking Tiger Books in 2019.