The Self-Translated Text as a Creative Paratextual Liminal Space in Dunya Mikhail’s The Beekeeper of Sinjar: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq

Abstract

The present research explores how the traditional concepts of loyalty and fidelity in translation become less applicable to self-translation. This is because such practice serves as a creative, paratextual, and liminal space in which the source text (ST) is rearticulated for a different audience. As a result, the translator assumes a dual identity as both author and translator, shaping the status of the target text (TT). The readers of the TT approach the self-translated text with the expectation of authenticity, insider knowledge, and an immediate authorial engagement. The translator is no longer viewed as a betrayer of the ST, but rather as an expert agent, communicator, and a reliable witness, as exemplified in Dunya Mikhail’s في سوق السبايا (In the Sabaya’s Market).  Mikhail translated the book into English as The Beekeeper of Sinjar: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq, with the help of Max Weiss. Together, they created a liminal, paratextual space in English that forms a threshold, giving Iraqi Yazidis, particularly women, a new voice in a different cultural context to bear witness to their stories of captivity and survival. Accordingly, the paper extends Genette’s (1987/1997) literal definition of “paratext” to encompass the target text as an entirely new entity with a specific “Skopos” to use Vermeer’s (1978/2000) term. It is demonstrated that although the translators have endowed the TT with a new cover, title, identity, and modes of narration, it constructs and presents a recognized humanitarian case to the international community.