Reporting at the border:Translation in periodicals at the Texas-Tamaulipas border during the 19th century

Abstract

This paper addresses the historical relationship between journalism and translation. It approaches translation history by considering journalistic translation as found in newspapers published in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (the southernmost, easternmost stretch of the Mexico-US border) during the 19th century. Specifically, the paper will ask whether translation was a tool employed in journalistic activity in the region and, if so, what the role was of translation in such activity. It will review the presence of translation in available border periodicals from the 1840s to the end of the century. This review will show that regarding certain aspects, historical news translation in this region was like that found in other places (e.g. a tool for importing foreign news). However, it will also highlight some traits that are the consequence of the newspapers being published along an essentially porous border where languages and cultures flowed into each other to create a specific bilingual context.