A study and Criticism of P4C localization in Iran: a comparative reading of Leila, the Philosopher Child and Lisa

This study aims to comparatively read and analyze two novels Leila, the Philosopher Child, (Naji, 2013), and Farsi translation of Lisa by Mathew Lipman for the purpose of identifying the difference between two text. We also mean to identify the P4C localization approach of the Iranian novel. Both books are published by the Institute for Humanities and cultural studies (IHCS), which has introduced Leila, the Philosopher child as an example of its attempts towards localization of P4C. Findings show that the changes made to the pre-text include changing of names, poems, time, place, descriptions, translation, content, relationships, contrast, omission, and addition. The nature of these changes reveals that the approach of P4C content localization is dominantly purgatory, that is the changes are made to modify cultural and controversial parts of the pre-text while neglecting the fact that sometimes these changes disrupt the text and its implicit and explicit intentions. Creating original works that address Iranian children and meet the required criteria of P4C material is a more reliable approach.