Volume VI Special Issue VI September 2026

Name of Author : Ms. Renit Kanivu J R, Dr. Rathna P

Title of the paper : A Critical Study on How Translation Sustains and Strengthens Tribal Literature

Abstract: Translation in literature has for centuries been a crucial enabler for texts to travel across the cultural, social and linguistic boundaries. Literary translation is an intense act of interpretation, recreation, and cultural negotiation. It shapes how literary works are received, understood, and valued by readers beyond their original language communities. However within the landscape of tribal literature, translation occupies a complex and often contested position. Many scholarly researches focus on the losses that occur during the process of translating an oral indigenous literature. Postcolonial theorists argue that translations reproduce the colonial patterns as the tribal voices are filtered through an external framework. Without discounting the challenges that translation involves, this paper argues that translation has been a crucial medium for tribal narratives to achieve global visibility and recognition. Translation also functions as a medium of cultural preservation. In the face of assimilative education, migration and globalization translation has been instrumental in moving indigenous literature from the peripheries to the centre of the literary discourse as they have entered university curricula and global literary networks through translation. The study highlights the crucial role of translation in democratization of literature.

Keywords : translation, indigenous literature, language documentation, literary recognition, oral narrative

DOI :

Page Number : 94-98