OBOS Transformed Worldwide: Bulgaria

Continued

The first translated edition of the book was published in 1972 in Japan where the third edition came out recently. Afterwards the book was published in Italian, in English - separately in England and Australia, in French and in other European languages. In 1976 the Spanish version came out, chiefly to correspond to the needs of the Spanish speaking community in the USA. Recently the second Spanish edition appeared which is almost a newly written book. While the first edition is a direct translation of the American text, the second has continued to resonate with the original book but has been planted more firmly in the context of Latin American women’s problems and culture. The authors of the Spanish version realized that the direct translation of the American book did not meet with an enthusiastic response in Latin America and even among the Latin Americans in the USA. For example, the American context is more individually focused, which the Latin American - on family and community mutual help. There are other differences that are also taken into consideration - such as the fact that abortions are illegal in most of the countries in Latin America. Thus the authors undertake the significant project, which continued for 10 years, to write a book close to their readers - it is entitled Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas and includes stories and photographs of women from South America.

In China the publication of a direct translation in 1998 met with serious government opposition because of the contradiction between the book’s message for a woman’s right to control her body and the Chinese State policy for birth control. In order to be published it was turned into a purely medical text and the ideological elements were removed. However, an unofficial version was also put into circulation. All copies of the first edition sold out in 20 days, two additional prints were made afterwards. Currently a new version has been prepared and it is more seriously adapted to the needs of Chinese women. A transformed and consistent with Islam version was published in Egypt. Topics that had been considered inapplicable were removed and others, such as the topic of female circumcision as a form of violence were added. Currently 13 projects for translating and publishing of Our Bodies, Ourselves are being carried out - such as the second Russian edition, and also Polish, Serbian, and Armenian versions.

The examples above illustrate a basic principle in offering the book for translation and distribution in other languages, which is again carried out through the dialogical and collaborative tone characteristic of the book and its ideology. The authors consign the copyright to their foreign colleagues for a symbolic price and understand the term “copyright” quite freely. They insist on adapting the book in a way that it will make it maximally useful in the specific context even if some radical changes are to be made. At the same time they provide consultation based on the experience of other collectives that have translated the book.

The first Bulgarian edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves is a translated and adapted version of the fifth - and last - edition of the original book. As a whole the Bulgarian version follows the authentic contents and presents all chapters included in the last edition of the original. The efforts of editors from the Women’s Health Initiative in Bulgaria who prepared this book were focused not only on presenting a translation with the necessary for the purpose abridging of texts that describe in detail medications and health practices known only in the US, but also on providing supplementary materials written by Bulgarian professionals. Thus 11 chapters of the book were adapted with materials describing the situation in Bulgarian society. These are Chapter 2 - Food, Chapter 3 - Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Mood-Altering Drugs, Chapter 5 - Holistic Health and Healing, Chapter 6 - Our Åmotional Well-Being: Psychotherapy in Context, Chapter 7 - Environmental and Occupational Health, Chapter 8 - Violence Against Women, Chapter 13 - Birth Control, Chapter 14 - Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Chapter 15 - HIV, AIDS and Women, Chapter 17 - Abortion and Chapter 26 - The Global Politics of Women and Health. Readers can find additional texts either at the end of each chapter or as footnotes. Because of their specialized terminology, these chapters as well as those with additional medical terminology have been consulted with professionals in the respective areas.

In this adapted version of the book we have also included a list of Bulgarian NGOs active in the field of health and human rights. In this list, which is possibly not complete, were have included all organizations that volunteered to become a part of this important informational resource. We have also included the information on on-line health resources, which the readers can find in the Chapter: Women’s Health Information on the Internet.

The translated and adapted version of Our Bodies, Ourselves in Bulgarian undoubtedly provokes the questions: who are its readers and how it will find a place in the context of Bulgarian society in the beginning of 21st century? We are convinced that the book’s size, balanced tone of medical information and multiple sources cited by the authors in each chapter will find a wide audience and will be a valuable reference book for doctors and health workers. And once again, we would like to underline that it is not only medical information but also knowledge and self-knowledge that are power, as the authors point out. We hope that Bulgarian readers will resonate with the political messages in this book, seen in the critical pathos towards the American health care system, which limits the access of many social groups to quality medical help, mainly the poor and disabled. In Bulgarian society today, with the health care reform and stratification processes, these critiques can be a useful warning about creating conditions for unequal health service for people belonging to different social, ethnic, age and gender groups. On the other hand, the threat of the negative sides of the medicalization of women’s bodies in the American reality, of which the authors warn us, is less relevant to the situation of health services in Bulgaria. In this respect it is quite on the contrary here - Bulgarian people do not suffer from excessive medical control but need more health care, medicine and competent observation and help. The authors’ criticism needs to be adapted to our reality, in a way that makes us realize that medicalization, of course, can be a possible threat for us also, as well as for every society where commercialization principles guide the health care system.

Finally, we think that the book will fascinate its readers with the humane pathos arising from every page. We are accustomed to thinking that our health is in doctors’ hands and in health care system but they are in our hands too, the authors say, because it is created and guarded by us each day, by our knowledge, attitude and care. And knowledge without love and belief is not possible. That is why this book teaches us to love, to enjoy, to appreciate and not being ashamed of our bodies, gifted with the power to create new life and to renew the human race. Be sensitive to the symptoms of your bodies; enjoy them, do not take the top models’ bodies which you see in magazines to be your ideals, be proud of your pregnancies and childbirths; don’t be ashamed of your sexual life and sexual partner choice; suffer, grieve for abortions, children, relatives and lost friends, accept the aging processes - don’t be afraid of these things happening inside you and through you. These are the book’s messages that we hope will be accepted by Bulgarian readers.

We would like to thank all who in the past two years have helped us to realize our idea to have the bestseller Our Bodies, Ourselves speak in Bulgarian. Thanks to the extremely precise translation of Kornelia Slavova who made the English text accessible to Bulgarian readers with high professional skill. Thanks to Dr. Ventsislav Daskalov who ensured the exact translation of the chapters containing medical terminology. Thanks to our consultants, editors and authors - Assistant Professor Dr. Stefka Petrova, Zachari Nikolov, Dr. Peter Stoyanov, Professor Dr. Bojidar Nikiforov, Dr. Dimiter Kakaikov, Maria Minkova, Marta Dyavolova, Assistant Professor Dr. Krassimira Daskalova, Roumyana Gotseva-Iordanova and specially to Dr. Krassimira Denkova from the Women’s Health Initiative in Bulgaria - for their valuable expert supplements, specifications and texts. Thanks to Sociological and Marketing Research Agency “Alfa Research” and Assistant Professor Dr. Boryana Dimitrova for conducting the interviews with representatives of nongovernmental organizations and also to Diana Nenkova for preparing the list. Thanks to the photographer Maya Munk who enriched the book with interesting pictures during her stay in Bulgaria sponsored by the Fulbright Foundation.

This book would have not been possible without the financial help from the “Women At Risk” Program for translations of the Open Society Institute and without the grant we received from the American foundation “Global Fund for Women”. They sponsored the publication of the translated and adapted version in Bulgarian. Thanks for the trust and support which we received during these two years of work from Boston Women’s Health Book Collective and especially from the Program Coordinator Sally Whelan. Thanks to Colibri Publishers and especially to Jechka Georgieva for their active collaboration in our joint work in preparing this book.

Irina Todorova, Tatyana Kotzeva
Sofia, May 24, 2001
Translated by Leda Avramova

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