Overview of the History of Translation in Africa

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26512/belasinfieis.v14.n2.2025.53894

Keywords:

Sub-Saharan Africa. Postcolonial Translation. Oral Tradition. Vernacular Languages. Performative Translators.

Abstract

This paper aims to present an overview of the history of translation in Sub-Saharan Africa, and attempts to cover the major periods of its history and the main regions of the continent. From precolonial times to today’s neocolonial period, translation and interpreting have always played a major role in enabling communication between disparate groups such as between kings and their subjects, colonizers and colonized, or in more contemporary times, between linguistic communities in a highly multicultural and multilingual Africa. Over the centuries, translation has been involved in many key sectors of activity in Africa ranging from politics and administration to culture and religion. Translation in this context has involved a great variety of language combinations between African languages, European languages and Arabic, as well as some traditional forms of intersemiotic translation. The history of translation in Africa reflects the rich and complex history of the continent and the various linguistic and cultural contacts and exchanges that have shaped and defined its destiny.

 

Author Biographies

  • Paul F. Bandia, Concordia University

    Paul F. Bandia is Professor of French and Translation Studies in the Department of French at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Professor Bandia is Fellow of the International Science Council (ISC). He is a non-resident Senior Fellow of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is founding President of the Association for Translation Studies in Africa (ATSA); international faculty member at the FUSP-Nida Centre for Advanced Research on Translation in Rimini, Italy; outgoing member of the Executive Council of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS); a member of the Editorial Board of numerous international journals and consultant for several academic publishers. 

  • Joicyane Carolaine das Merces Santos, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

    Bacharelanda em Tradução pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. 

  • Patricia Chittoni Ramos Reuillard, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

    Professora-titular do Departamento de Línguas Modernas e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras do Instituto de Letras da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Doutora (2007) e Mestre em Letras (2002) respectivamente para Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul e pela Université Paris III - Sorbonne Nouvelle. Mestre em  Linguística e Letras (1992)  e graduada em Letras (1983) pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. Realizou pesquisa pós-doutoral (2019-2020) na Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III . Tradutora do par de línguas português/francês. Pesquisadora do Grupo de Pesquisa TERMISUL e vice-líder do Grupo de Pesquisa do CNPq TERMISUL. 

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Published

2025-09-14

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2025): Translating Translation Theory

Section

Artigos Traduzidos

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