On The Translation Of Art History From The Perspective Of Interpretive Anthropolgy

This thesis intends to shed some light on the translation of an Art History text like Pissarro's People by applying the theory of Interpretive Anthropology to translation and research,which was proposed and developed by Clifford Geertz,a world-known U.S.cultural anthropologist,and from which it acquires enlightenment to translation practice of Art History through case analyses.To be specific,the Author of the thesis adopts three basic approaches of the said theory,namely Thick Description,Local Knowledge and From the Native's Point of View to demonstrate the effectiveness of Interpretive Anthropology in explaining translation phenomena and concluding relevant and useful strategies and methods/techniques for rendering Art History texts.The results of this practice-based research indicate that the interpretative characteristics of Thick Description are echoed with those of translation,which helps to broaden the horizon of translation researchers in concrete rendering,thus generating the concept of thick translation that enriches the cultural context for readers of Art History translation and is extremely helpful for them to appreciate Western Art History better.Translators should make proper use of Local Knowledge and domestication in order to achieve successful cross-cultural communication between the source text and the target text.And From the Native's Point of View,translators should gain a deep understanding of the source text culture and develop linguistic competence and art historical expertise as well as make flexible use of translation methods to render the Art History text which is grounded on ekphrasis.