Faculty member's book slated for translation

Posted: June 19, 2012 2:00 p.m.

Phillip Hansen, a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and Classics, poses with his book, Hannah Arendt: Politics, History, and Citizenship. Photo: U of R Photography Department

Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world. Soon, almost half a billion people will be able to read a University of Regina professor’s book that over the course of the next year and a half is slated to be translated into Arabic.

Phillip Hansen, a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and Classics, has had a longstanding interest in the work of one of the most significant political thinkers of our time, Hannah Arendt, and has written extensively about her ideas. His book, Hannah Arendt: Politics, History, and Citizenship, addresses the questions, concerns and issues raised by Arendt’s political thinking, which ranged from the origins of totalitarianism to the phenomenon of revolution. At the core of her work is the idea that the politically unexpected can emerge at any time. This makes her analyses and concepts a particularly valuable resource for confronting the many challenges the world is currently facing, notes Hansen.

It may be no coincidence that the book is being translated into Arabic at a time when the Arab world is changing so dramatically.

“I think in the face of the upheavals we’ve witnessed in the Middle East over the course of the last couple of years, Arendt’s accounts of popular political initiative and revolutionary change might well be of considerable interest to Arab readers,” Hansen says.

The book has already been translated into Mandarin, Korean and Swedish and Hansen delights at the thought of his book on shelves in Beijing, Seoul, Stockholm and Cairo.

“It’s certainly gratifying,” he says of the accomplishment. “I think it’s good that interest in Arendt’s ideas is spreading and I’m pleased and honoured that publishers in other languages think that my book may be helpful in understanding and appreciating those ideas and thus prove of interest to readers. No author could wish anything more.”