Paratext & Power
An open source data platform for cataloging, searching, and visualizing over 1,000+ Paratexts in Arabic Literature in Translation.
PRoject:
Paratext and Power is a multimodal investigation that tracks the role of paratexts in translations of Arabic literature and their use since WWII. Paratexts such as introductions, prefaces, forewords, afterwords, glossaries, and notes, contain keys to understanding the westward movement of Arabic literature.
Project Director:
Dr. Dima Ayoub, Associate Professor, dayoub@middlebury.edu
About
The Paratext and Power database contains over 1,000 entries of Arabic literature in translation, which by no means captures the full corpus of this literature. The goal of this website is to both create a searchable database about paratexts, translators, and authors of modern Arabic literature in translation and show how paratexts are byproducts of a translation industry that has historically governed the circulation and reception of Arabic literature in translation.
Read the digital essay to learn more about the project’s purpose, how it got started, and where it intends to go!
Search
The first
Paratext Database:
Paratext and Power is a project that catalogs the corpus of translated Arabic literature offering tools for users to search the content of this literature’s paratexts.
This unique repository provides the first ever search function for paratexts. Users can look up titles, authors, or translators and all corresponding information in a similar format to popular databases such as ProQuest Central, JSTOR, and WorldCat.