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Bible Paratexts and the Framing of an Ikwere National Identity

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Bible Paratexts and the Framing of an Ikwere National Identity See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343151310 Bible Paratexts and the Framing of an Ikwere National Identity Preprint · July 2020 CITATIONS READS 0 72 1 author: Uchenna Oyali University of Abuja 26 PUBLICATIONS 16 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Uchenna Oyali on 04 October 2020. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Bible Paratexts and the Framing of an Ikwere National Identity By Uchenna Oyali Department of English University of Abuja, Nigeria [email protected] Introduction This paper builds on the premise that, from a linguistic perspective, Ikwerre is a dialect of Igbo, a language spoken in the Southern part of Nigeria. However, the Ikwerre people do not accept the Igbo identity but rather prefer to be seen as a distinct people with a distinct language. Thus, despite the existence of eight Bible translations in Igbo, produced between 1860 and 2015, the Ikwerre people insist on having the Bible in Ikwerre. Consequently, two translations of the New Testament were published in Ikwerre in 2005 and 2010. The Old Testament of the 2005 version was published in 2017. Since Ikwere is a dialect of Igbo, this study considers the Ikwere translations as retranslations, or translations into a language of a text that has pre-existing translations in the same language. As such, the Ikwere translations stand in competition with the existing Igbo translations and the onus is on the agents involved in the new translations to make them appealing to the target Ikwere audience. This study explores how paratexts are used to influence the perception of the Ikwere Bible translations. Paratext is defined by Batchelor (2018:142) as “a consciously crafted threshold for a text which has the potential to influence the way(s) in which the text is received.” In other words, paratexts are meant to introduce another text – the main text – and ultimately influence how it is received. These include prefaces, forewords, footnotes, and interviews. 1 Research Questions The major question guiding this study is: How are paratexts used to frame the Bible translations into Ikwere? This question opens up further questions: a. What topics are discussed in the paratexts? Here, the choice of topics discussed would be juxtaposed with the topics that are not mentioned but implied or are given scant attention. The assumption here is that the foregrounded topics are what the agents want the audience to be aware of while the backgrounded ones are avoided probably because of their potential to highlight aspects of the competing (earlier) translation(s) that may pitch them favourably against the new translation. b. How are these topics presented to give a positive impression of the given translations as against older translations? Focus here will be on the linguistic – content and style – features of the paratexts. In providing answers to these questions, particular attention is given to the socio-historical contexts in which these retranslations were produced. Before the analysis proper, an overview of Bible translation into Igbo and how this enterprise contributed to the evolution of Standard Igbo as well as a pan-Igbo identity is presented. This is followed by a review of the argument whether Ikwere is a dialect of Igbo or a distinct language. The next section clarifies the concepts used in this study before the exploration of how they are employed in Ikwere Bible translation. Bible Translation, Standard Igbo and the Pan-Igbo Identity Bible translation into Igbo started in the mid-19th century with the arrival of Christian missionaries in Igboland in present-day Nigeria. To date, there are eight published translations of the Bible into Igbo.1 The first was a translation of portions of the New Testament in Isuama 1 Some Bible translations into Igbo were never published for political reasons (Oyali 2018). In effect, they are not included in the list of Igbo Bible translations presented below. 2 Igbo – Oku Omma nke Owu Matia: The Gospel according to St. Matthew (1860) and Ma Oru nke Apostoli: The Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians (1866). These were followed by the first translation of the complete New Testament done in the Niger or Onitsha dialect of Igbo – Agba Ofu nke Dinwenu-Ayi na Onye-Nzoputa-Ayi Jesu Kristi n’Asusu Ibo (1900). Bible Nsọ: Union Version (1913) was the next translation, so called “Union” because it was translated into an amalgam Igbo dialect, with features drawn from five non-contiguous Igbo dialects. The second half of the 20th century saw the publication of five other translations – Baịbụlụ Nsọ (1988), published by the International Bible Society (IBS); Baịbụl Nsọ: Nhazi Katọlik (2000), by the Roman Catholic Church; Baibul Nsọ: Ndezighari Ọhụrụ (2007), published by the Bible League International; Baịbụl Nsọ: Nsughari Uwa Ohụrụ nke Akwụkwọ Nsọ (2007), by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society; and Baịbụl Ofufe-Nro na Ọmụmụihe nke Rhapsody of Realities: Ogbụgbandụ Ọhụrụ, published by Christ Embassy Church, a Pentecostal church with headquarters in Nigeria. For ease of reference, I use the following terms for the different translations:2 Isuama Igbo Bible for the translations of portions of the New Testament into the Isuama dialect of Igbo (1860/66); Niger Igbo Bible for the first complete New Testament, done in the Onitsha or Niger dialect of Igbo (1900); Union Igbo Bible for Bible Nsọ: Union Version (1913) done in the Union Igbo dialect;3 Igbo Living Bible for Baịbụlụ Nsọ (1988), the source text of which was the Living Bible in English;4 Igbo Catholic Bible for 2 The translations done by the missionaries are identified by the dialects into which they were translated; as presented later in this article, Igbo had not evolved a literary standard when these translations were done. The translations by native Igbo agents were done when Igbo had evolved some literary standard and are thus identified by other yardsticks – their source texts, status as a revision of an earlier translation or the denomination that did the translation. 3 One is not clear about the source texts used for these translations by the missionaries. There is no evidence that John Christopher Taylor who translated the Isuama Igbo Bible had a good enough knowledge of Greek to have used it for the translations. The same goes for Henry Johnson, Isaac Mba, Thomas David Anyaegbunam and Julius Spencer who, at different stages, translated the Niger Igbo Bible, under the supervision of Henry Hughes Dobinson. Thomas John Dennis, who supervised the translation of the Union Igbo Bible, knew some Greek and Hebrew, but the actual translation was carried out by Igbo agents. These Igbo Christians, as far as can be told, had no knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Thus, one could say that the main source text used by the missionaries in their translations was the King James Bible (c.f. Oyali 2018 for a detailed history of the different Bible translations into Igbo). 4 In an interview with Ogharaerumi, Jeremiah C. Okorie who spearheaded this translation stated that they used “a variety of sources” for the translation which included “English, Greek, Hebrew and indigenous texts” (1986:317). However, in a personal email exchange, Akibom Ofoegbu, an agent of the International Bible 3 Baịbụl Nsọ: Nhazi Katọlik (2000);5 Igbo Revised Edition for Baibul Nsọ: Ndezighari Ọhụrụ (2007), which is identified on its copyright page as Igbo Revised Edition and presented as a revision of the Union Igbo Bible of 1913; Igbo New World Translation for Baịbụl Nsọ: Nsughari Uwa Ohụrụ nke Akwụkwọ Nsọ (2007), whose source text is the English version of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; and Igbo Rhapsody Bible for Baịbụl Ofufe-Nro na Ọmụmụihe nke Rhapsody of Realities: Ogbụgbandụ Ọhụrụ (2015), translated from the English-based Rhapsody of Realities Devotional Bible.6 Some salient aspects of these translations – year of publication, dialects into which they were published, Bible sections published and the institutions that produced them are presented in Table 1. Bible translation Year Dialect Bible sections Institutions translated Isuama Igbo Bible 1860/66 Isuama Igbo Portions of the Anglican New Testament Church Niger Igbo Bible 1900 Niger (Onitsha) Igbo New Testament Anglican Church Union Igbo Bible 1913 Union Igbo Old and New Anglican Testaments Church Igbo Living Bible 1988 Central. Igbo Old and New Living Bible Testaments International Igbo Catholic 2000 Standard Igbo Old and New Catholic Bible Testaments Church Igbo Revised 2007 Standard Igbo Old and New Bible Society Edition Testaments of Nigeria Igbo New World 2007 Standard Igbo Old and New Watch Tower Translation Testaments Bible and Tracts Society Igbo Rhapsody 2015 Standard Igbo New Testament Christ Embassy Bible Church Society under the auspices of which the translation was done, states that the source text for the translation was the English version of the Living Bible. 5 In the Foreword to the Igbo Catholic Bible, Ifenatuora claimed that the translation was carried out from different source languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English (2000:vii). However, Ezeogu, who was also involved in the translation, submitted that the translation was done from English-based texts: “translation from the original languages had been ruled out from the outset, as this would make the project too time- consuming and too expensive” (2012:175). 6 This is actually the King James Bible interlaced with an introduction, several teachings and a concordance. 4 Table 1: Salient Aspects of Igbo Bible Translation The third column in Table 1 shows the different dialects of Igbo into which the Bible translations were made. The Igbo language did not have a written standard, at least not in the Roman script, prior to the Igbo encounter with the Christian missionaries.
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