DOCSLIB.ORG

Translation As Culture in Postcolonial African Literature and Film In

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Translation As Culture in Postcolonial African Literature and Film In Decolonizing Translation Practice as Culture in Postcolonial African Literature and Film in Setswana Language A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Keith Phetlhe May 2020 © 2020 Keith Phetlhe. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Decolonizing Translation Practice as Culture in Postcolonial African Literature and Film in Setswana Language by KEITH PHETLHE has been approved for Interdisciplinary Arts and the College of Fine Arts by Andrea Frohne Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts Matthew R. Shaftel Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 Abstract PHETLHE, KEITH., Ph.D., May 2020, Interdisciplinary Arts. Decolonizing Translation Practice as Culture in Postcolonial African Literature and Film in Setswana Language Director of Dissertation: Andrea Frohne The dissertation aims to engage a critical analysis of the cultural implications of translation practice in the context of postcolonial African literature and film in Setswana language. It argues for the integration of decolonial and culturally relevant translations in post-colonial African-language cultural productions. The dissertation shows that, through the application of decolonized methodological practices to translation, cultural meaning can be retained, and therefore, empower the relevance and global visibility of marginalized literatures. The study is cognizant of the fact that cultural translations constitute an essential aspect of growth and expansion of postcolonial literatures and films from Africa, especially for minority literary communities across the continent. Furthermore, the dissertation makes an innovative contribution to the ongoing debates on postcolonial literatures and films produced in Africa, and more importantly, to decolonizing the study of translation as culture in Setswana literature and film. The period of colonization in Africa was characterized not only with the impositions of the European literary cultures and canons on their colonies, but also with varied assumptive views on literary translation practice. For example, most literary translations only focused on the written word represented using the Latin alphabet, but 4 overlooked the possibilities of other translation practices implemented and widely used by the culturally displaced literary cultures. Some of these translation practices entailed the translation of oral tradition and its integration into both the written forms of literature and cinematic adaptations. Furthermore, the exercise of translation also involved the translation of the postcolonial canons, and its defining aesthetic features that account for a distinct style of the cultural productions considered in this study. The study makes a critical observation that the colonial translation practice of Setswana language reflected the following: First, uncritical acceptance and imposition of prescriptive traditional methods of translations that favored English literary culture and its aesthetic modalities. Second, the ideological bias toward prescriptive translational methods that originated in Europe although they offered a dismissive, reductionist, and uninformed view of postcolonial African cultural texts. Literature and film in postcolonial Africa are examples that demonstrate the fact that translation practice is more than the transference of information from one language to another, but it is instead a cultural entity that exposes the existing dominant Eurocentric hegemonic and paternalist narratives about translation. Therefore, the dissertation establishes that, translation as a study and practice should be defined in the broadest possible sense, one that recognizes the role that it plays in giving a distinct style of literary and cinematic production in postcolonial African cultures. Methodologically, the data analyzed are selected from the following existing translations of Setswana literatures: Botlhodi Jwa Nta ya Tlhogo, The Conscript, Things 5 Fall Apart, Praise Poems of Tswana Chiefs, A Grain of Wheat, When Rain Clouds Gather. And from the following Setswana films—O Bone O Ja Sereto and Beauty. In addition, it examines translated manuscripts and the existing literature on translation practice in relation to Setswana literature. The dissertation raises critical questions that have not received satisfactory answers regarding translation practice in postcolonial Setswana texts: How can translation methods in postcolonial African literature and film be decolonized in order to move forward with repatriating their cultural content? How does Setswana literature and film as examples reveal the complexities of the translation practice? What interventions can be deployed to improve future translations and address the negative implications of applying irrelevant translation methods? The questions contribute to understanding the complexities surrounding the translation question, and its decolonization in African literatures and films, and how such complexities are conceptualized and understood through postcolonial theory. The study will first explore the history of translated postcolonial African literature and film within a broader historical spectrum to show that the history of literary translation dates back to pre- colonial Africa, hence translation practice predates colonial era. Second, it considers how in the history of translation practice in Setswana literature and film, Setswana, as a literary language, portrays not only a history of mistranslations from the colonial anthropological and missionary translations, but also as a culture marked by remarkable literary resilience using diverse translation practices. 6 Dedication For my mother, Kebonye Phetlhe, and my late grandmother Motsei Phetlhe. 7 Acknowledgments The process of writing a dissertation is a collective activity that is impossible to complete without the committed assistance from various individuals. Therefore, I want to sincerely express my gratitude to those who helped me throughout this process. The Setswana proverb—montsamaisa bosigo ke mo leboga boselê—provides a better context of my deep sense of gratitude. I wish to first thank my family for enduring five years of absence, when I was on a self-imposed academic exile, especially to you, my darling and sweetheart, Annah Diundu for the encouragement. Thank you for raising my kids Maya and Maru throughout this period. And to my mother, Edith Kebonye Phetlhe, for the encouragement and in helping to raise my children. I cannot thank Tiroentle Bafana Pheto enough, and Pula Press for granting me the permission to translate his novel Botlhodi Jwa Nta ya Tlhogo into English. Thank you Rre Pheto for availing all the time and material I needed for my research. I would also like to thank distinguished members of my dissertation committee for their advice and grooming me into being a better researcher. I first thank the chair of my dissertation committee and director of my school Dr. Andrea Frohne for detailed comments, advice, and constructive feedback. I also thank Dr. Erin Schlumpf for supervising my dissertation proposal until it took shape, and for introducing me to film studies. And to Prof. Ghirmai Negash I thank you immensely for great mentorship and feedback since I joined graduate school at Ohio University. I also thank you for translating The Conscript into English, and for granting me the permission to 8 translate it into Setswana. To Prof. Vladmir Marchenkov I’m thankful for your advice and philosophical interventions, especially on matters relating to translation of mythology. Among my colleagues and friends, I thank Dr. Lassane Ouedraogo for great friendship and academically stimulating conversations. I thank my brothers Dr. Mongi Dlamini, Samuel Njai, Colin Lasu and Aggrey Willis. I also thank my cohort for doctoral studies Dennis Moot, Chao Zhou, and Lior Shragg for support. Pula! 9 Table of Contents Page Abstract ................................................................................................................................3 Dedication ............................................................................................................................6 Acknowledgments................................................................................................................7 List of Tables .....................................................................................................................12 List of Figures ....................................................................................................................13 Introduction ........................................................................................................................14 Prior Studies and Contribution ................................................................................... 27 Solomon Plaatje’s Translations of Setswana Literature ............................................. 32 Translations of Oral Literature .................................................................................... 40 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 48 Chapter Outline ........................................................................................................... 62 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 66 Chapter 1: History of Translation in African Literature
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sol Plaatje University Undergraduate Prospectus 2021
    or Humanity - f • a Le ic s fr e A d i l m a o r A f f t r i h k a g i L - • g o m B o a d t s h n o e • M L e i i g d u r i i t v A – f r i k a or Humanity - f • a Le ic s fr e A d i l m a o r A f f t r i h k a g i L - • g o m B o a d t s h n o e • M L e i i g d u r i i t v A – f r i k a SOL PLAATJE UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATE PROSPECTUS 2021 General Information and Admission Requirements or Humanity - f • a Le ic s fr e A d i l m a o r A f f t r i h k a g i L - • g o m B o a d t s h n o e • M L e i i g d u r i i t v A – f r i k a or Humanity - f • a Le ic s fr e A d i The Sol Plaatje University (SPU) in Kimberley draws on the distinctivel strengths and heritage of the m a o r A f f t r Northern Cape, stimulating provincial and national development i and has the potential to inject new h k a g i L - • life and purpose into Kimberley and the Northern Cape – a place burstingg with energy, attracting people o m B o a from all over Southern Africa and from d other continents.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sol Plaatje Memorial Lecture for 1987
    Given by Alan Paton THE SOL PLAATJE MEMORIAL LECTURE FOR 1987 At the University of Bophuthatswana ninety years in ourcountry, through the Anglo-BoerWar of 1899-1902, the creation of the Union of South Africa in INTRODUCTION 1910, the removal of the African voters of the Cape to a I have the honour this evening to deliver the Sol Plaatje separate roll in 1936, and the long rule of the Nationalist Memorial Lecture for 1987. To prepare myself for this task Party from 1948 to his death in 1982, during which time I have been re-reading his writings, and the various Parliament passed the Group Areas Act, the Population accounts of his life, and a wonderful life it was too. What Registration Act, the Separate Amenities Act, the Bantu makes his life seem all the more wonderful, and what Education Act, the Suppression of Communism Act and makes his achievements seem all the more extraordinary, all the security legislation that followed it. Yet although he is the realisation that he did not enjoy the advantages that had lived through all this, he always maintained that the have been enjoyed or will be enjoyed by all of us here this most cruel Act of them all was the Natives Land Act of evening, a university education. Nor indeed did he have a 1913. high-school education. It is recorded that he did not go Sol Plaatje reacted equally strongly to the Act. He wrote: beyond Standard III (some say Standard IV). His edu­ "Awakening on Friday morning, June 20,1913, the South cation he gave to himself.
    [Show full text]
  • Message from the Head of School
    ISSUE ONE – MAY 2018 . MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL BY PROF. JESMAEL MATAGA In early 2015, on my first day of work at Sol Plaatje and offers possible majors from more than ten University, I walked into a room with two other disciplines. colleagues – the system called them the “Heritage Our focus as a School is to draw from and Studies” Department. The three of us formed the build on the rich human, natural, cultural and nucleus of what was supposed to mutate into a linguistic heritage of the Northern Cape, to fully-fledged School. At this stage, the three- establish a good foundation for teaching and member team ran a one-year undergraduate learning, research as well as community Higher Certificate in Heritage Studies, which has engagement. For instance, we think that Creative remained a flagship programme at the university. Writing is a vehicle for all disciplines/professions That year, we also had our first ever (13) graduates and that study in and use of previously from Sol Plaatje University. Though small, this marginalised African languages contributes to graduation was very symbolic. It represented and the opening up of diverse archives and signaled the first fruits of a journey towards the foregrounds different ways of knowing. establishment of new universities in post-1994 South Africa. All this happened in a particularly In our teaching, we endeavour to develop our tumultuous period in higher education in South students into critically engaged citizens. Our Africa, where fires were literally burning at students learn how to engage and interrogate universities, as students called for free various forms of text and acquire critical thinking, and decolonised education for the poor.
    [Show full text]
  • Apartheid South Africa
    Apartheid South Africa 1948-1994 APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA To understand the events that led to the creation of an independent South Africa. To understand the policy of apartheid and its impact. To understand what caused the end of apartheid and the challenges that remain. Colonization: Settling in another country & taking it over politically and economically. Cultures Clash The Dutch were the first The Europeans who settled Europeans to settle in in South Africa called South Africa. themselves Afrikaners. They set up a trade Eventually, the British took station near the Cape of control of most of South Good Hope. Africa. Cultures Clash The British and the The British eventually Afrikaners (also known as defeated the Afrikaners the Boers) fought each and Zulus and declared other for control of South Africa an South Africa. independent country in The British also fought 1910. with the Zulu tribe. The Birth of Apartheid They created a system called The white-controlled APARTHEID, which was designed government of South to separate South African Africa created laws to society into groups based on keep land and wealth in race: whites, blacks, the hands of whites. Coloureds, and Asians. What is Apartheid? System of racial segregation in South Africa. Lasted from 1948-1994 Created to keep economical and political power with people of English descent/heritage National Party (1948) In 1948, the National Party came to power in South Africa. Promoted Afrikaner, or Dutch South African, nationalism. Instituted a strict racial segregation policy called apartheid. In 1961, South Africa was granted total independence from Great Britain.
    [Show full text]
  • HERITAGE, FORGOTTEN ANC Celebrates History While Winnie
    HERITAGE, FORGOTTEN ANC celebrates history while Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s Brandfort home still languishes in obscurity By Rebecca Davis• 13 January 2020 The newly refurbished house of late struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Brandfort, Free State during a visit on Sunday 12 January. The refurbishment of the house, which is meant to be turned into a heritage site, began in 2005 — 15 years later it remains unfinished. (Photo: Ayanda Mthethwa) For the past 15 years, the ANC government has been promising that the house to which Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was banished in the Free State will become a heritage site. In December 2019, the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthetwa announced that the museum was complete — but in reality, it is nowhere near opening its doors to visitors. The ANC’s 108th birthday celebrations have been a time for the party to commemorate its history and the freedom fighters it claims as its own. One of the week-long series of events saw President Cyril Ramaphosa lay a wreath at the Kimberley gravesite of the ANC’s first secretary- general, Sol Plaatje. But just 90 minutes’ drive away, the site which the Department of Arts and Culture has hailed as one of South Africa’s “prized national assets” received no such acknowledgement. This is 902 Mothupi Street in Majwamasweu Township, Brandfort: the address to which Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was banished by the apartheid government for almost a decade in 1977. The structure of the clinic that was bombed by apartheid police will also form part of the heritage site.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Solomon T. Plaatje (1876-1932) in South African Society
    THE ROLE OF SOLOMON T. PLAATJE (1876-1932) IN SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY by Brian Peel Willan Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London November 1979 ProQuest Number: 11010557 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010557 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 i ABSTRACT Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje was born to Tswana, Christian, parents in 1876, and grew up on a mission station near Kimberley. After first working as a post office messenger, in 1898 he moved to Mafeking to become a court interpreter, and served in this capacity during the famous siege. In 1902 he became editor of an English/Tswana newspaper, Koranta ea Becoana, and established his reputation as a journalist and spokesman for his people. Shortly after Union in 1910 he moved to Kimberley and became editor of another newspaper, Tsala ea Becoana, and was then prominently involved in the founding of the South African Native National Congress, becoming its first Secretary.
    [Show full text]
  • Naming and Renaming Project Publication
    Naming and Renaming Programme Launch Introducing the new residence names 1 Vision Contents To be a dynamic African university, recognised for its leadership in generating cutting-edge knowledge for a sustainable future What’s in a name? (Excerpts from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address at the launch of the new name, July 2017) .................................................................4 Mission Why the New Names? ............................................................................................5 Roll-out of the Programme .....................................................................................7 To offer a diverse range of life-changing education experiences for a better world A Transformed Identity for Nelson Mandela University ..........................................8 Transforming Together – the Naming and Renaming Project ................................9 Values Everyone Has a Voice .............................................................................................10 STUDENT RESIDENCES ..................................................................................11 South Campus ........................................................................................................14 Claude Qavane Residence (Xanadu) ................................................................14 Diversity Excellence Ubuntu Sarah Baartman Residence (Melodi) ..................................................................15 Solomon Mahlangu Residence (Unitas) .............................................................16
    [Show full text]
  • Early ANC Leaders and the British World: Ambiguities and Identities 1
    Early ANC leaders and the British world: ambiguities and identities 1 PETER LIMB* Introduction Identities, in their diverse forms – national, social, cultural, political, gender, Diaspora, Imperial, and others – have been the focus of much recent research by sociologists, political scientists and historians, who stress that identities are flexible, socially constructed, and multiple.2 When considering what constitutes identity, we could list such elements as: the individual components of identity, how 1. An earlier version was presented to the International Conference on British Identities, Cape Town, January 2002. * Dr. Peter Limb ([email protected]) is Adjunct Assistant Professor in History and Africana Bibliographer at Michigan State University. His field of specialisation is twentieth century South African history, particularly ANC history. His latest publications include an article on Sol Plaatje in Critical Arts (Durban, 2002) and "'Representing the Laboring Classes': African Workers in the African Nationalist Press, 1900-1960" in Les Switzer and Mohamed Adhikari(eds.), South Africa's Resistance Press: Alternative Voices in the Last Generation Under Apartheid (Athens: Ohio University, 2000). He has recently edited a collection of papers on South Africa for African Rural and Urban Studies and is currently working on national identities and a comparative history of the ANC and Indian National Congress. 2. The literature on identities is vast but see, for example: A. STEPAN, “Modern Multinational Democracies: Transcending a Gellnerian Oxymoron” in J. HALL (ed.) The state of the nation: Ernest Gellner and the theory of nationalism (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998) pp. 219-42. Early ANC leaders and the British world people view themselves or how others see them; how these elements develop, interact and are negated; and the totality of identification.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Cinema
    Global Cinema Series Editors Katarzyna Marciniak Department of English Ohio University Athens, OH, USA Anikó Imre Division of Cinema and Media Studies University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA, USA Áine O’Healy Department of Modern Languages and Literatures Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA, USA The Global Cinema series publishes innovative scholarship on the transna- tional themes, industries, economies, and aesthetic elements that increas- ingly connect cinemas around the world. It promotes theoretically transformative and politically challenging projects that rethink film studies from cross-cultural, comparative perspectives, bringing into focus forms of cinematic production that resist nationalist or hegemonic frameworks. Rather than aiming at comprehensive geographical coverage, it fore- grounds transnational interconnections in the production, distribution, exhibition, study, and teaching of film. Dedicated to global aspects of cin- ema, this pioneering series combines original perspectives and new meth- odological paths with accessibility and coverage. Both ‘global’ and ‘cinema’ remain open to a range of approaches and interpretations, new and traditional. Books published in the series sustain a specific concern with the medium of cinema but do not defensively protect the boundaries of film studies, recognizing that film exists in a converging media environ- ment. The series emphasizes a historically expanded rather than an exclu- sively presentist notion of globalization; it is mindful of repositioning ‘the global’
    [Show full text]
  • The Meaningful Life of Sol Plaatje
    Theoretical Contributions The Spiritual Wellness of an Intellectual, Novelist, Journalist and Politician: The Meaningful Life of Sol Plaatje Crystal Welman 1, Paul J. P. Fouché 2, Pravani Naidoo 2, Roelf van Niekerk 3 [1] Wellness Centre, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa. [2] Department of Psychology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. [3] Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 2021, Vol. 17(3), 221–232, https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.5417 Received: 2020-12-10 • Accepted: 2021-02-10 • Published (VoR): 2021-08-31 Handling Editor: Claude-Hélène Mayer, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Corresponding Author: Crystal Welman, Wellness Centre, Central University of Technology, Private Bag X20539, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract The study investigates Sol Plaatje’s (1876–1932) spiritual wellness across his lifespan. He was purposively sampled due to his impact upon South African society. As an intellectual, novelist, journalist, and politician, Plaatje was also a founder member of the South African Native National Congress, which later became the African National Congress. His life history reflected a significant degree of spiritual wellness, which was uncovered through the systematic analysis of publicly available life-history materials, including primary and secondary sources. The Wheel of Wellness (WoW) model by Sweeney and Witmer was applied to interpret the biographical evidence of spirituality and meaning in his life. Spirituality, as the central life task of the WoW, and regarded as the most influential domain of a healthy individual, incorporates religious beliefs and other individualised aspects of meaning-making.
    [Show full text]
  • “Democratic” Foreign Policy Making and the Thabo Mbeki Presidency: a Critical Study
    “DEMOCRATIC” FOREIGN POLICY MAKING AND THE THABO MBEKI PRESIDENCY: A CRITICAL STUDY By John Alan Siko submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject AFRICAN POLITICS at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: DR THABISI HOEANE MARCH 2014 Table of Contents 2 Summary 7 Key Terms 8 Declaration 9 Acknowledgements and Thanks 10 List of Acronyms 11 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction 14 1.2 Rationale for the Study 14 1.3 Why Examine the Mbeki Period? 17 1.4 Defining “Democratic” Decision Making in a Foreign Policy Construct 19 1.4.1 Foreign Policy Analysis as a Framework for Assessing “Democracy” in Policy Making 21 1.4.2 FPA’s Relationship with International Relations Theory 23 1.4.3 FPA as a Subset of Public Policy Studies 24 1.4.4 Limitations of FPA 25 1.5 Literature Review 26 1.6 Key Research Questions 29 1.7 Research Methodology 30 1.8 Ethical Considerations Taken Into Account 32 1.9 Challenges and Limitations of This Study 33 1.10 The Structure of the Thesis 34 1.11 Conclusion 34 Chapter 2: Analytical Framework for Assessing Foreign Policy Democratization 2.1 Introduction 36 2.2 Public Opinion as an Influence on Foreign Policy 37 2.3 Civil Society 38 2.4 The Media 39 2.5 Academics 41 2.6 Business 44 2.7 Legislatures 45 2.8 Ruling Parties 47 2.9 Government Bureaucracies 47 2.9.1 Allison’s Models 49 2.10 The Executive 50 2.11 Conclusion 53 2 Chapter 3: Narratives in South African Foreign Policy 3.1 Introduction 55 3.2 South African Foreign Policy to 1948 56 3.3 The
    [Show full text]
  • Sona 2019 Highlights
    2019 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS “NEW DAWN” @GovernmentZA #SONA2019 GovernmentZA Let’s grow South Africa together as we celebrate 25 years of freedom. 1 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS President Cyril Ramaphosa ends meet. It is hard for you, the young student from the Sol Plaatje University in the Northern Cape, who delivered the SoNA in must rely on a thin stipend from your parents to feed Parliament, Cape Town on yourself. Thursday, 20 June 2019. “The lived reality of our people is exactly what I have In his opening remarks, the President said: “We gather just described. Yours are the lived struggles of the here at an extremely difficult and challenging time in people of this nation. We have heard you and many the life of our young democracy. others. “Yet, we are also at a moment in our history that holds “Many of us who are representatives elected here great hope and promise. In 25 years of democracy spent the better part of the past few months going we have made remarkable progress in building a new through the length and breadth of our country, nation in which all South Africans have equal rights and listening to our people. We have heard you. broadening opportunities. “The persistent legacy of apartheid has left our “Over 25 years, we have done much to meet people’s country with extreme structural problems – both basic needs, to reduce poverty and to transform economic and social. a devastated economy that was built to serve the interests of the few.
    [Show full text]