Michel Foucault's Theory Of Power Relationship

What is a translation? One would say that translation is the effort of communication between different worlds. You try to translate a source text, a speech, a theme, a culture to the target one. How can that be possible though, if absolute equivalence between two different languages and more specifically two different worlds is a remote possibility? There are slim chances in achieving the perfect translation, and the only way a translation can be described as a successful one, it is when it constitutes a real encounter between the home and the foreign, the self and the other.

Translation is a process during which reality is constructed, countered and challenged. Through translation the authorial biases are upset and ultimately endangered.

Studying Michel Foucault’s analysis of power relations one can notice that the French philosopher argues about a shift in the way power functions. Power is not visible anymore, since we have no kings or princes to behead. This makes power even more dangerous than it was before, as you cannot actually see it and consequently you believe that there is nothing to resist to. Foucault introduces the notion of panopticism, a theory that speaks about the unseen eye of power that regulates our behaviour. This means that we end up doing, thinking and behaving in a certain way because we believe someone is watching us. In time this becomes our second nature and we do not even have to think about our invisible watchmen, we become the ones to watch ourselves not to depart from the path of

Though widows may not be burned with their husbands or ostracized in ashrams anymore, reality for women in India is not an ideal one. This is strongly demonstrated by the increasing gang rape cases in the country. This is an indication that women are still treated as sub-humans in India and that this belief is deeply entrenched in the Indian society. It is very difficult to challenge tradition, but as Foucault would suggest, we have to endeavour to unmask and expose the power of oppression that regulates us. Deepa Mehta’s films are precisely trying to challenge the norms and notions that lead to oppression, uncovering the monster, exposing its true colours and unsettling the unjust and inequitable