Publishers’ Notes as Conflict Management Tools in Translation Contexts

Abstract

This paper aimed to examine the role of publishers’ notes in managing conflicts in translation contexts, and the strategies they adopt to deal with the conflict cases found in the main texts of the books they publish. Salama-Carr’s (2007), and Webne-Behrman’s (1998) definitions of conflict were adopted, and Thomas-Kilmann’s (1974) typology of conflict management strategies was used. The data came from the publisher’s notes of the Persian translations of a number of books written on the Iran-Iraq War, published by Marz-o-Boom Publication in Iran. The study found that a combination of three conflict management strategies, i.e. collaboration, competition, and compromise was adopted in the notes. The strategies of competition and collaboration ranked first in the notes. But, avoidance and accommodation were absent. Based on the findings of this research, it could be suggested that even highly-charged texts could be almost precisely translated and publicly presented if publishers consciously use their notes as conflict management tools. Adopting a proper combination of the strategies of collaboration, compromise, and competition, they may address the conflicts, but keep them at a level at which the Other’s ideas and viewpoints could be fully voiced, and used to broaden the readers’ understanding of the conflicts.