Textual Embodiments of Bourdieusian Hexis
The Translator, (September 2013)DOI: 10.1080/13556509.2013.10799519
Abstract
This paper adapts Bourdieu’s theory of hexis (Bourdieu 1977) to analyze data from the Baillie translation of Hegel’s Phenomenology (Hegel/Baillie 1910/1931) and to illustrate that the translation is a product of a non-neutral, historically determinate, participatory social practice. After outlining the concept of an honour-seeking, bodily stance or hexis embodied in the text of the translation, the paper analyzes the historical context surrounding the Baillie translation in terms of Bourdieusian field theory (Bourdieu 1977, Bourdieu 1991b), identifying mutually opposing ideological and philosophical positions as defining features in an informed reconstruction of the honour-endowing sub-field of British Idealist philosophy. The central argument of the paper is that microscopic analysis of the text of the Baillie translation, specifically the translations of Geist (mind/spirit/Spirit) and aufheben (cancel/preserve/sublate), provides textual evidence of an honour-seeking, dominant translatorial hexis which embodies the translator’s participation in the dynamics of the historical field.