Translating the Time of Neoliberal Precarity: Some Notes on Italian Queer Transfeminist Scenarios

Voluntary translation work plays a key role in those activist movements in Italy whose agenda can be defined as queer transfeminist. Given that in these groups the critique of heteronormativity is entangled with a critique of neoliberalism, and that the notions of precariousness and precarity discussed in relation to neoliberalism are linked to that of temporality, this chapter aims to investigate how time is resignified in these scenarios and the role that translation plays in its theorization. A paradigmatic case is the queer transfeminist group ideadestroyingmuros. This collective (formed mainly of northern Italian activists who migrated to Spain) conceives translation as a tool for “redeeming life” and is interested in opposing the individualistic self-exploitation and the unsustainable demands on our time posed by the threats of neoliberalist precarity through a reevaluation of practices of collaboration and solidarity. This chapter therefore explores how the practices of the queer transfeminist group, ideadestroyingmuros, and their theorizations of translation, as well as the choice of translating articles on alternative theorizations of time by activist translation collectives such as Les Bitches, participate in the theorization of new alternative temporalities in Italian transfeminist scenes. Temporality can thus be analyzed in relation to translation given that it represents widespread concern of various queer transfeminist Italian collectives that use translation as part of their political agendas.