From People to Place and Back Again: Back Translation as Decentering—an Andean Case Study

This article develops a methodology for revealing to an outsider the un-elaborated cultural connotations of translated native words, using a case study of early intercultural communication in an Andean colonial setting. It focuses not on the general translation process from a native language into a European one, but rather on the reverse. “Back translation” of language dealing with native paramount lords opens to cultural outsiders the spiritual dimension of native rulership.