Traduzindo indigeneidade: marcadores culturais Ainu em traduções de Golden Kamuy

Abstract

The present study analyzes two translations into Brazilian Portuguese of the manga Golden Kamuy, in which the Ainu – an indigenous people native to the northern part of the Japanese archipelago – feature prominently in the narrative. The two translations were one produced and distributed by fans in the context of collaborative productions known as scanlation (Carlos, 2011; Aragão, 2016) and one carried out by a professional translator and officially published. Assuming these objects, the general objective of the research was to observe how the Ainu cultural markers present in Golden Kamuy are translated in its fan-made and official translations and which conceptions of culture – implicit or explicit – guide the decisions taken. To this end, we adopted a qualitative perspective of analysis following Miles and Huberman (1994) and, as a theoretical framework, the various conceptualizations of culture formulated internally in Anthropology (Tylor, 2016 [1873]; Geertz, 2008 [1973]; Sahlins, 1990 [1987]; Thompson, 2002 [1990]; Laraia, 2001), as well as their applications in translation (Schleiermacher, 2007 [1813], Lefevere, 1992b; Venuti, 2019 [1998]), especially with regard to the concept of cultural markers (Nida, 1945; Newmark, 1988 apud Li, 2021; Aubert, 2006; Aragão, 2021). The comparative analysis was conducted using samples from each of the three categories of referentiality in which cultural markers are manifested, selected by convenience based on the relevance of the examples for the perception of the distinctions present between the versions analyzed. The data submitted for analysis show, in general, greater consistency and coherence in the translation choices made in the official editorial context compared to its collaborative counterpart. On the other hand, the greater proactivity displayed by the scanlators was also evident, as they constantly modify and add to the original text in order to highlight and/or contextualize cultural aspects considered relevant internally within the fandom. In terms of conceptions of culture, none of the objects of analysis displayed a single cohesive conception governing their choices, with both varying between different conceptions as the original work and their own production contexts guided their decisions.