The study addresses a significant lacuna in translation studies by applying Bourdieu’s sociological framework, specifically the concept of field, habitus and capital, to the underexplored field of Sri Lankan literary translation. While Bourdieusian analysis has been influential, its application remains predominantly centred on Western and dominant language literary fields. Guided by Bourdieu’s sociology, the present study explores the translator’s strategic agency in Malinda Seneviratne’s English translation of Masimbula’s best-selling Sinhala novel, Senkottan. The study addresses two research questions: (1) What strategic decisions does the translator employ when rendering the text from Sinhala to English? (2) How do the translator’s capital, habitus and field influence their strategic decisions in the translation? Using a qualitative methodological approach, the study offers a comparative-textual analysis of the Sinhala novel and its English translation, which is informed by information obtained from a semi-structured interview with the translator. The research identifies two main strategic decisions: 1) use of Sri Lankan English and 2) para-textual elements, while demonstrating how Seneviratne’s capital accumulated through his career as a poet and a translator, legitimises his strategic choices. Seneviratne’s habitus, shaped by bilingual upbringing and ideological stance, directly influenced his selection of source text. The findings reveal that, within the peripheral Sri Lankan literary field, translators can employ local capital to resist the assimilative pressure of global literary markets. By extending the sociological lenses of Bourdieu's theory into non-Western South-Asian contexts, the study contributes to translation studies by highlighting the translation practices emerging from multilingual peripheral literary fields.

Keywords: Bourdieu’s Sociology; Senkottan; Translator’s Strategy; Malinda Seneviratne; Sri Lankan English

DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3202-14

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