This session brings together four papers that explore translation and adaptation as deeply embedded cultural and political practices rather than neutral or purely linguistic processes. Focusing on case studies from Bengal, Ireland, and the Arab world, the panel considers how texts are reshaped as they move across languages, media, and historical contexts. In doing so, it foregrounds translation as a site where meaning is not simply transferred but actively produced, negotiated, and sometimes contested. The session approaches its topic through an interdisciplinary lens, drawing on postcolonial theory, translation studies, and adaptation theory. Across the papers, translation emerges as a form of creative and critical engagement, one that can challenge dominant narratives, reconfigure cultural hierarchies, and open up new modes of expression. Rather than asking whether a translation is “faithful” to its source, the panel instead asks what translation does: how it intervenes in questions of power, how it reshapes aesthetic forms, and how it enables texts to speak in new contexts.

The reason for organizing this session lies in the increasing urgency of rethinking translation in a global and decolonial frame. At a moment when questions of migration, language politics, and cultural representation are central to both scholarly and public debates, translation offers a particularly productive lens through which to examine these issues. By bringing together work on South Asian, Irish, and Arab literary and cultural production, the panel creates space for comparative discussion while also highlighting connections that are not always foregrounded in existing scholarship. At the same time, the session engages directly with established theoretical frameworks while pushing them in new directions. Concepts such as hybridity, skopos, and intersemiotic translation are placed in dialogue with newer approaches like “border as method” and “factography.” In this way, the panel contributes to ongoing conversations in translation studies and postcolonial studies by showing how these theories can be reworked through specific textual and cultural contexts.

The session will consist of four presentations of approximately twelve minutes each, allowing all speakers to present their work in a focused manner while keeping within the allotted time. This will be followed by a minimum of fifteen minutes of open discussion. The discussion period is designed to encourage conversation not only between the presenters but also with the audience, creating space for comparative reflection and the exchange of ideas across different areas of expertise.

Each paper contributes to the session’s central concerns in distinct but complementary ways. The first paper examines a recent translation and stage adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s Taasher Desh, exploring how meaning shifts as the text moves from Bengali into English and from page to performance. It pays particular attention to the role of music, choreography, and visual elements, suggesting that adaptation can be understood as a form of creative re-authoring rather than simple reproduction.

The second paper turns to the Bengali poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay and his engagement with the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet. Focusing on Mukhopadhyay’s later work, it argues that translation played a key role in shaping a shared Afro-Asian socialist aesthetic. By situating his poetry within the framework of “factography,” the paper highlights the intersection of literary form, political commitment, and transnational solidarity.

The third paper examines contemporary Irish-language poetry, focusing on how poets use translation as a form of resistance and language activism. Through strategies such as self-translation and deliberate mistranslation, these writers challenge the dominance of English and reassert Irish as a living and dynamic language. The paper positions translation as an ethically engaged practice tied to questions of language justice and cultural survival.

The fourth paper proposes the concept of “desert as method” in its analysis of a Palestinian novella and its film adaptation. It explores how the desert functions not only as a physical setting but also as a space shaped by power, mobility, and extraction. By examining both literary and cinematic forms, the paper shows how adaptation can transform spatial and political meanings.

Taken together, these papers highlight the multiple ways in which translation and adaptation operate across different contexts, while also pointing to shared concerns with power, resistance, and creativity. Finally, the panel brings together scholars working across different geographical areas, languages, and career stages. This diversity of perspectives strengthens the session’s comparative approach and supports a broader, more inclusive conversation about translation and its role in shaping literary and cultural production today.