Naoki Sakai: Thinking about Translation between East and West
This article provides a critical outline of Naoki Sakai’s theory of translation. As Sakai’s theory uses European thought (particularly French post-structuralism) as a critical lens for the analysis of Japanese modernity, the theory itself represents an unprecedented East-West dialogue. Critical both of claims of Western dominance and Eastern mimicry, Sakai casts aside the question of translatability, instead favoring an analysis of the potential failure of translation, which is inherent to all acts of translation and communication.