Phillips Academy Teacher Searches for What's Lost in Translation

Spanish Department Chair Peter Neissa Pens “Dictatorship: The Imposition of U.S. Culture on Latin America Through Translation”

February 24, 2009 -- Phillips Acadamy’s Spanish instructor and department chair Peter Neissa has written his third book,  “Dictatorship: The Imposition of U.S. Culture on Latin America Through Translation,” which explores how venerable American translators unwittingly impose American values, and thereby cultural control, on Latin American society by the words they choose.  Neissa likens this unconscious control to that used consciously by some modern day Latin American dictators.

“Most people believe language is neutral. But language is never neutral,” says Neissa. “It is used for some truly great things and some truly evil things.” By studying the works and English translations of Jorge Zalamea, Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, Neissa discovers an American intellectual hegemony that resembles traditional notions of cultural dictatorship.

Neissa, who holds a PhD degree in Hispanic studies from Boston College and a master’s degree in Spanish language and literature from Harvard University, maintains that modern Latin American literature often breaks conventional rules of grammar and style to convey the rich tapestry of its culture—and that some of its most powerful and vivid words are often deemed misogynist or racist when translated into English. According to Neissa, American translators decide to approximate an equivalent word in English that reflects their own values, thereby altering the meaning—and often the beauty—of the original text

“Dictatorship: The Imposition of U.S. Culture on Latin America Through Translation,” is published by Floricanto Press. Neissa’s first two books, “The Druglord” and “Under False Colors,” are historical narratives that explore the world of Colombian drug traffickers. Before becoming chair of the Phillips Academy Spanish department in 2008, Neissa taught Spanish language and Latin American literature at Harvard University.