Language as Power: Colonialism and Translation in R.F. Kuang's Babel
Written by Kineshia Fievel Lassa
R.F. Kuang's Babel: An Arcane History is a novel saturated with the philosophy of language, colonialism, and the relationship between power and knowledge. This work merges historical features with fantastical magic in an alternative version of 1830s Oxford that examines how language and translation may be instruments either of control or liberation. In its complex plot and rich thematics, Babel charges the reader with the question of how linguistic and cultural hegemony furthers colonial violence.
Language and Colonialism
Babel essentially offers a critique of language in the machinery of colonial power. It has this conceit—a fictional Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford University, where scholars ally the magical properties of silver with powerful language in order to work linguistic magic. These "translations" endow silver bars with the most powerful and arcane properties, which the British Empire then exploits to maintain its dominance. Within this framework, translation becomes the tool of imperialism, that sign or token of the Empire manipulating knowledge for its interests. In this manner, it is siphoning off all value from linguistic diversity and repressing its origins in cultures.
One notices how the colonizer appropriates the language and even more redeploys him to legitimize their domination. Studying philology at Babel aims to master languages; however this talent is not intended either to further mutual understanding or cultural exchange. Instead, it is to extract linguistic nuances that can be weaponized by the British Empire, underpinning the idea of colonization as not only a physical but a cognitive conquest as well. Language becomes a means of controlling thought, which defines what's "civilized" and what's "barbaric."
Historical References and Scientific Research
Kuang handles language and colonialism with depth and sensitivity, informed by real-world history—especially British Empire histories that infuse linguistic and cultural capital within their colonies. Here one feels something of what one can parallel in the ways British colonialists leveraged their dominance of tongues to maintain control over immense swathes of territory from India to Africa. The use of English as a lingua franca in former British colonies is a biting reminder of how languages are imposed upon subjugated peoples, very often at the cost of native languages and cultural practices. Second, language in Kuang stretches to the academic and scientific traditions of the time. The 19th century was a time when in Europe, linguistic studies had just begun to develop with Sir William Jones, proposing a common source for Indo-European languages. Most of these academic pursuits were tied to colonial projects. For example, knowing the colonized people's language better was considered a means to control and govern over them more effectively. This reduces the distance between scientific investigation and colonial exploitation in Kuang's Babel.
The relationship of translation to violence is not conceptual, but historical. In the case of British colonization, for instance, the East India Company engaged scholars to translate religious and legal texts that were to be used in justification and entrenchment of British rule. It was not a neutral act of translation, but an act of power in its shaping of the way the British perceive and rule over their colonies. This dynamic is vibrantly captured in Kuang's novel in a way that exemplifies how Babel uses such acts of translation to further entrench the dominance of the British Empire.
The Philosophical Dimensions of Violence
Kuang does not hold back from some of the darker implications of this set-up. Of course, the subtitle to her novel—The Necessity of Violence—tells readers right from the get-go that what's in store is more than a tale of linguistic manipulation; it's about as much the moral messiness of resistance. The characters struggle with oppressive systems of which they are part, and thus whether violence is a necessary means to justice pops up.
It's a very philosophical question, based on long-standing debates about the ethics of resistance and revolution. Indeed, Frantz Fanon, in his seminal work on anti-colonial violence, introduces Wretched of the Earth by saying that this is an unavoidable and necessary part of decolonization. Fanon's ideas ring throughout Babel as Kuang's characters struggle with how their own acts of violence may be justified against the violence of the overwhelming colonial system. However, Kuang makes such violence complicated as well by portraying how this takes a toll on individual persons performing it—insinuating there are no easy answers to whether the ends justify the means.
Conclusion
In Babel: An Arcane History, R.F. Kuang weaves historical research, theory on languages, and philosophical investigation into a novel that is at the same time rigorously intellectual and emotionally resonant. In the way Kuang talks about language and colonialism lies a provocation to reckon with how it is both a tool of oppression and resistance. This is the novel's account of the necessity of violence in the presence of injustice—it forces one to attend to highly uncomfortable questions of how expensive liberation really is and how costly it is to keep power.
Ultimately, this is a powerful meditation in Babel on the intersections between language, power, and history, reminding us how every story we tell, the words that we will use to tell them, is not at all neutral; it is always informed by our past and the potential to shape our future.
Resources
- https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/2023/01/16/babel-by-r-f-kuang/