To lament the almost overwhelming failure in the publishing world to translate African-language writing ironically reinforces the false, popular conception that modern Africa is an ongoing catastrophe. Even more ironic, the only remedy for such widespread misunderstanding is precisely the translation of more African-language writing. More than any other continent, Africa is not only unread—to speak of the thousands of writers in all genres who write and remain untranslated in indigenous rather than colonial languages like English or French—Africa is also misread: with the most popular and accessible African writers, who are far fewer in number, choosing colonial languages for their work. To address this problem, translation of the work of Eritrea’s premier historian, Alemseged Tesfai, who writes in Tigrinya, would be one of my first choices. While he has translated some of his short stories, plays, and creative nonfiction himself into English, the translation of his two major works of history (over 1,000 pages)—Aynfelale (“Let Us Not Separate”) and Kab Matienzo ksab Tedla Bairou (“Eritrean Federation with Ethiopia: From Matenzo to Tedla”)—could be a catalyst finally to change American foreign policy in the Horn of Africa, which was formulated in 1950 during the Eisenhower administration and has led—the word is inescapable—from one catastrophe to another, up to the present in Somalia. As secretary of state delivering a lengthy policy speech in Kenya earlier this year, Hillary Clinton asserted that although “the story of Africa is told in stereotypes and clichés about poverty, disease, and conflict—the story we also need to tell, and tell it over and over again, is that many parts of Africa are rising to 21st-century challenges. We have seen the changes, and we know what is happening right now.” But do we know, and what do we know about Africa, if we don’t recognize that it must come from Africa first and in Africa’s languages, not ours?
Charles Cantalupo is a professor of English, comparative literature, and African studies at Penn State University.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
• Issue 43: Spring 2016
• Issue 42: Winter 2015
• Issue 41: Fall 2015
• Issue 40: Summer 2015
• Issue 39: Spring 2015
• Issue 38: Winter 2015
• Issue 37: Fall 2014
• Issue 36: Summer 2014
• Issue 35: Spring 2014
• Issue 34: Winter 2014
• Issue 33: Fall 2013
• Issue 32: Summer 2013
• Issue 31: Spring 2013
• Issue 30: Winter 2013
• Issue 29: Fall 2012
• Issue 28: Summer 2012
• Issue 27: Spring 2012
• Issue 26: Winter 2012
• Issue 25: Fall 2011
• Issue 24: Summer 2011
• Issue 23: Spring 2011
• Issue 22: Winter 2011
• Issue 21: Fall 2010
• Issue 20: Summer 2010
• Issue 19: Spring 2010
• Issue 18: Winter 2010
• Issue 17: Fall 2009
• Issue 16: Summer 2009