The UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS), supported by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, has published a special issue on Rethinking Translating Cultures on July 14, 2025, in Babel, a peer-reviewed journal specializing in translation studies. This issue builds upon four decades of scholarship to critically re-examine foundational discussions within translating cultures, centering on the Arab cultural context yet engaging with global discourses from the Global North and South. The introduction and four articles in this special issue demonstrate how the translation of Arabic language and cultures is not only a linguistic act but also a vehicle for transmitting ideas, concepts, and belief systems. By challenging Eurocentric paradigms and embracing geo-linguistic diversity, these essays mark an epistemological shift in translation studies, advocating for a critical reassessment of historical and methodological frameworks.

The introduction, Rethinking Translating Cultures, was written by UNESCO Chair Director Dr. Moneera Al-Ghadeer and Translating Cultures Lab (TCL) members Dr. Charles Forsdick (Cambridge University), Dr. Mohammed Al-Sudairi (KFCRIS and Australian National University), Dr. Andreas Karatsolis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Dr. Eric Calderwood (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and Dr. Mohammed Allwaish (Jouf University). Articles within this refereed special issue were selected through a rigorous double-blind review process. The articles include “Reconceptualizing the Foreignizing and Domesticating Literary Translation of the Arab Culture(s)” by Dr. Ahmed Mansour, “Translating the Untranslatable: The Case of Mahr in Polish Language and Socio-Cultural Context” by Karolina Bieganowska, “The Role of Artificial Intelligence Tools in Mediating Sino-Arab Cultural Exchanges Through Intercultural Translation” by Dr. Mubarak Alkhatnai, and “Translating the Nation in Nineteenth-Century Arabic: A Diachronic Corpus Study” by Dr. Marianna Massa. The latter, Marianna Massa, is the recipient of an Early Scholars Publication Grant from the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures, which aims to support the publication and dissemination of outstanding graduate-level research in peer-reviewed academic articles. This publication is one of UNESCO’s deliverables for its first year.