The alchemy of translation in Hausa: cosmopolitanism, gatekeeping, and infrastructure in English-Hausa translation.
In February 2023, Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho tweeted a cover of Muddassir S. Abdullahi's yet-to-be-published Hausa-language translation of Coelho's bestselling novel The Alchemist to his 15.2 million followers. At the same time Ibrahim Sheme was putting the finishing touches on his Hausa transl...
| Published in: | Journal of the African Literature Association Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 46 - 68 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Apr2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=184402993&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 184402993 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 21674736 D378 jtl: Journal of the African Literature Association issn: 21674736 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2025 vid: 19 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 184402993 10.1080/21674736.2025.2464416 ppf: 46 ppct: 22 formats: tig: atl: The alchemy of translation in Hausa: cosmopolitanism, gatekeeping, and infrastructure in English-Hausa translation. aug: au: McCain, Carmen affil: SOAS University of London, London, United Kingdom su: Cosmopolitanism Gatekeeping Coelho, Paulo, 1947- Publishing Translating & interpreting Literature Cultural boundaries Narratives Northern Nigeria sug: subj: Northern Nigeria Cosmopolitanism Gatekeeping Coelho, Paulo, 1947- Publishing Translating & interpreting Literature Cultural boundaries Narratives keyword: cosmopolitanism Hausa Nigerian literature translation world literature ab: In February 2023, Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho tweeted a cover of Muddassir S. Abdullahi's yet-to-be-published Hausa-language translation of Coelho's bestselling novel The Alchemist to his 15.2 million followers. At the same time Ibrahim Sheme was putting the finishing touches on his Hausa translation of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Both cases show Hausa literary voices engaging in global conversations about world literature through translation. In this article, I draw on recent interviews with translators and publishers in Northern Nigeria to give a brief history of translation between English and Hausa, and then I make three linked interventions. First, I examine the ideal of translation as a cosmopolitan practice that enables stories and ideas to cross the boundaries of language. Second, I point out how this ideal is complicated by imbalances of power and by gatekeeping in both English- and Hausa-language literary spaces. Finally, I address the anxieties of publishers and editors about how readers of translations might respond to the crossing of language, cultural, and stylistic boundaries. I end with thoughts on the structures needed to successfully translate, publish, and market a translated literary text to audiences of Hausa and English. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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