Abstract

This article explores the politics of translation as a critical and decolonial framework for understanding intergenerational dialogue and knowledge co-creation in global contexts. Situated at the intersection of decolonial theory, translation studies, Indigenous scholarship, and critical intergenerational studies, it examines how translation operates as a contested relational practice through which power, culture, and identity are negotiated across generations. Drawing on decolonial thought and debates on epistemic justice and relational ethics, the analysis foregrounds translation as an ethical and political act rather than a neutral linguistic bridge. Through a comparative analysis of two case studies - Māori language revitalisation initiatives in Aotearoa New Zealand and Sámi youth political councils in Northern Europe - the article illustrates how intergenerational translation mediates between ancestral epistemologies and contemporary sociopolitical realities. These cases reveal translation as a site of both continuity and struggle, where linguistic, cultural, and digital borders are navigated in ways that sustain collective well-being while also exposing tensions around authority, representation, and legitimacy. Engaging critically with traditions in decolonial pedagogy, Indigenous language revitalisation, and critical dialogue studies, the article situates translation as a practice shaped by colonial histories and future-oriented resistance. It advances the position that ethical translation demands attentiveness to untranslatability, refusal, and difference, challenging dominant Western assumptions of equivalence, transparency, and universal intelligibility. In an era of digital expansion and algorithmic mediation, translation emerges as a key site for interrogating how Indigenous and intergenerational knowledges are preserved, transformed, and governed. By reframing translation as a decolonial praxis of care and co-existence, grounded in these scholarly traditions, the article contributes to contemporary debates on collective futures, intergenerational well-being, and the epistemic responsibilities of intercultural engagement.