Abasi Kiyimba

Translation and hybridity: Losses and gains in African oral literature in English

This paper uses the discourse around barrenness and impotence in Luganda language literature to argue that while English translations gain a wider audience, they are alien and at best hybrids. As a result of the disparate cultural and syntactic regimes of the two languages, these texts suffer losses in the original meanings and degenerate into long-winded structures with lesser aesthetic appeals. Luganda does not have a lexical equivalent of “impotent.” It uses several words/idioms to express the frustration and ridicule associated with this social/physiological state. They include: Omufiirwa (the bereaved), eyaggala amatu (blocked ears), atalima (one who does not dig) and nantasiima (one who does appreciate the woman’s cooking). Similarly, the word Omugumba which is used to translate “barren” does not always mean “childlessness,” since it also refers to women who have few children. The interface with languages whose cultural and social notions are different is necessarily problematic.

Keywords: African oral literature, hybridity, losses, gains

Biography

Abasi Kiyimba is a Professor in the Department of Literature at Makerere University. He served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts for six years (2003-2009) and is currently Deputy Principal of the College of Humanities and Sciences, where he oversees the language learning programs, including the program in Translation Studies in the School of Languages, Literature and Communication. He has translated Okot P’Bitek’s Song of Lawino from the English language into Luganda and is currently translating Alex Banzi’s Titi la Mkwe (The Breast of the Daughter in-Law) from Kiswahili into Luganda. His research interests include African oral literature, gender in literature, and Translation Studies.