Off the Beaten Track: Power and Language in a Generational Act of Feminist Storytelling

Dr. Sunitha Srinivas C

doi:10.22161/ijllc.6.1.6

Indexing and Abstracting

Off the Beaten Track: Power and Language in a Generational Act of Feminist Storytelling

Dr. Sunitha Srinivas C

International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-6,Issue-1, January - February 2026, Pages 40-46, 10.22161/ijllc.6.1.6

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Article Info: Received: 27 Jan 2026, Received in revised form: 24 Feb 2026, Accepted: 26 Feb 2026, Available online: 28 Feb 2026

Abstract:

In a textual ecology, the translator occupies a marginal position, remaining invisible or obscured, articulating only via the voice of another. Translation serves as a vantage point for critiquing prevailing paradigms, including national and gender-based oppressions. A memoir pertains to memory; it encompasses an individual's cohesive, personal, and subjective recollections. The intersection of life writing and translation initiates numerous options for exploration. The assumption of textual unity and the myriad subjective interpretations involved in the text's creation, translation, reception, and our ways of presuming and critiquing positions are all called into question. Translation entails a simple and formal transposition of content from one signifying system to another. The specific terminology, language framework, and semantic fields are intended to transition from one system of signification to another, establishing a new association. This paper seeks to comprehend and examine how Saeeda Bano’s Urdu memoir Dagar Se Hat Kar (English as Off the Beaten Track) traverses linguistic, cultural, and political hierarchies. Her memoir’s English version gains deeper resonance when read alongside her aural defiance, for Bano’s radio work proves that translation isn’t just textual—it’s embodied, sonic, and infrastructural. A multi-modal comprehension of translation—incorporating text, voice, presence, and cultural systems—offers a thorough framework for assessing how her memoir traverses the diverse hierarchies involved.

Keywords:

Storytelling, Translation, Autobiography

References:

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Off the Beaten Track: Power and Language in a Generational Act of Feminist Storytelling

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