This item from the Nairobi weekly, the East African, was seen on AllAfrica.com at http://allafrica.com/stories/200503010473.html .
It would be interesting to have a discussion on the role of translation in African literature and publication. What Ayi Kwei Armah and the article's author do not discuss is the possibility of either composing in a language other than English and French and then translating into one or both of the latter for wider disseminaton, or vice versa - "back-translating" African literature originally composed in English or French into an African language(s) of the milieux/story they describe (this has been done in a few cases). In other parts of the world as far as I'm aware there does not seem to be a need to write only in international languages. The idea that the language of African literature has not yet been born is an interesting one. First, does that mean that no language in Africa can convey the range of experience of the continent? Or that the thought is that Africa as a whole needs a single language? It's my impression (again as a non-specialist in language & literature) that a language expands through use, especially by those most skilled in it, to be able to convey a range of ideas, emotions, etc., and that this dynamic potential exists in all languages. DZO The Language of African Literature Is Not Yet Born The East African (Nairobi) http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/index.html OPINION February 28, 2005 Posted to the web March 1, 2005 Hezron Mogambi Nairobi Only cultural values inspire national pride, writes HEZRON MOGAMBI THE DIRECT RESULT OF European colonisation of Africa was the depreciation of the African image in the European mind to justify the imposition of political control. This naturally also involved the devaluation of African culture. This is what Ayi Kwei Armah, the Ghanaian novelist, who delivered a lecture at the University of Nairobi's Taifa Hall two weeks ago, believes. Armah says that when Africans claim that they are independent under present conditions, they are misguided. "The idea of independence is false, a joke in all other ways," says Armah, 65, arguing that political independence is meaningless without cultural independence, for it is only cultural values the can "inspire a people with national pride, give them a separate identity and something to live and die for." Creative writers, especially in West Africa, he says, emerged with forms of writing aiming at restating and emphasising African culture. The musico-ethnologist Kwabena Nkeita of Ghana, for example, recorded and interpreted the funeral dirges of the Akan while Chinua Achebe reconstructed the Igbo traditional culture as it existed before the colonialists undermined it, in his novels, Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. Armah, who says he feels sorrow over the current state of affairs in Africa, observes that, although many countries have had nominal independence for years, life has not improved for the ordinary citizens. "It is our foolishness which makes us live the way we live. Until we make up our minds and decide what we want to do and design our own system, we shall be going nowhere," he says. "We need to sit down," he continues, "and look at our history because it is from such a history that we can begin to find a solutions to our present-day problems." Asked what language should be used in writing and therefore documenting what he calls African history, the author who has taught in universities in North America and worked in most parts of Africa, agrees that, indeed, that is part of the problem. His answer, however is even more telling: "We are suspended while waiting for a decisive breakthrough; if an African language is adopted it will be a big solution. Africa is vast and it requires a vast language to put through all our ideals, and that language is not yet born," Armah says. He therefore says that he will continue writing in languages that reach the largest number of Africans; that is English or French. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/rkgkPB/UOnJAA/Zx0JAA/TpIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
