Returning Plaatje’s Mhudi to Setswana: An Exploration of Repatriation in Literary Translation

Abstract

This study focuses on the translation of Sol Plaatje’s Mhudi from English into Setswana. Studies have suggested that though written in English, Mhudi is heavily influenced by the author’s Setswana culture. It is for this reason that the translation of such a novel into Setswana has been seen as a form of cultural back-translation or repatriation. The concept of repatriation refers to a situation in which a source text written about a particular community in a language which is foreign to that community gets translated into the language of that community. This concept has recently become an area of interest in translation studies, but there is still a dearth of literature on the subject. It is in this regard that this study seeks to analyze the context in which Mhudi was translated into Setswana and the actions of the translator during the translation process. Using agency as a theoretical framework, the study investigates the translator’s strategies in translating culture-specific terms as well as the social factors that might have influenced his actions. The study is qualitative in nature, and data was collected through a comparative analysis of the source and target texts. The study is significant in shedding light on the concept of repatriation and its application in translation studies.

Keywords

• Sol Plaatje
• Mhudi
• repatriation
• literary translation
• agency

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