Cover not available

Article published In: Translating Creolization
Edited by Desrine Bogle, Ian Craig and Jason F. Siegel
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 2:2] 2016
► pp. 195–219

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Critical cultural translation

A case of translating creolization in newspaper tales of Trinidad 1919–1920

 | The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago
Published online: 31 December 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.2.2.02fig
This case study uses tools from Critical Discourse Analysis and Translation Studies to explain the translation of Creole aesthetics in thirty-two written folktales of Trinidad, after World War I. The serial publication of these local folktales within the Trinidad Weekly Guardian and the Argos newspapers coincided with a period of cultural transformation in Trinidad, when local newspapers became the caretakers of a national literature in print. The researcher uses translation as a metaphor to critically analyze the process and function of intercultural transfer between oral and written folktale cultures, while showing how intercultural translation was effected in the folktale, at this time. In the final analysis, the study traces the forward reach of translating creolization beyond the period of WWI, into a period that is better known for the foregrounding of the Creole under class, in the short stories of Beacon and Trinidad of 1929 to 1930. It is a significant study because it identifies many translation shifts in Creole culture towards establishing the conventions of the modern short story of the 1930’s. In particular, the re-writing of oral tales enabled a discursive shift in focus in favor of the ordinary class, race-relations in society, the melding of folk mythologies for didactic purposes, and a language shift from the folktale’s French-Creole language base to an English-oriented literate culture. In this way, it perpetuated a neo-colonial agenda of translating creolization as the discursive recolonization of Creole folktale culture with exocentric conventions.
References (49)
Abrahams, Roger. 1971. “Personal Power and Social Restraint in the Definition of Folklore.” Journal of American Folklore 84 (331): 16–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Adejunmobi, Moradewun. 2004. Vernacular Palaver: Imagination of the Local and Non-Native Languages of West Africa. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barker, William Henry, and Cecilia Sinclair. 1972. West African Folktales. Illinois: Metro Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bermann, Sandra, and Catherine Porter. 2014. A Companion to Translation Studies. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brereton, Bridget. 2015. “Slavery Myths and Realities.” Daily Express (Port of Spain, Trinidad), July, 30 2015.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Boissiere, Jean. 1931. “Woman on the Pavement.” Beacon 1 (8): 4–5.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elder, Jacob Delworth. 1972. Ma Rose Point: An Anthology of Rare Legends and Folktales from Trinidad and Tobago. Port of Spain: Universal Printing Products.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and Power. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1992. “Intertextuality in Critical Discourse Analysis.” Linguistics and Education 4 (3-4): 269–293. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fergus, Claudius. 2012. “Anansi, An African Legacy: Bridging Time Spaces and Spirits.” In Caribbean Heritage, ed. by Basil Reid, 39–57. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Froude, James Anthony. 1888. The English in the West Indies. London: Longmans.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gale, Helen. 1919. “John Charles Edward Series.” Trinidad Weekly Guardian (Port of Spain, Trinidad), February 8 – June 14, 1919.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1919. “Debbie’s Tales” Trinidad Weekly Guardian (Port of Spain, Trinidad), June 21 – September, 1919.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goh, Nina. 1996. “Using Myth Folktales and Fairytales in the Adult EFL Classroom.” Master’s thesis. Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, Joel Chandler. 1881. Uncle Remus His Songs and His Sayings. 1st ed. New York: D Appleling.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hodge, Merle. 2007. “The Writer in the Caribbean Language Situation.” In Writing Life: Reflections by West Indian Writers, ed. by Mervyn Morris and Carolyn Allen, 145–154. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Inniss, Lewis Osborn. 1891. The Creole Almanack for Trinidad and Tobago. Port of Spain: Anthony C. Blondel.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
James, Cynthia. 2004. “Searching for Anansi: From Orature to Literature in the West Indian Children’s Folk Tradition-Jamaican and Trinidadian Trends.” Paper presented at University of the West Indies , St Augustine, June 30, 2004.
James-Williams, Dahlia. 2011. “An Investigation of the Impact of Amerindian Mythology on Trinidad and Tobago’s Forest Folklores.” History in Action 2 (2): 1–5. [URL].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jardel, Jean-Pierre. 1977. Le Conte Créole. Bibiographie. Sainte-Marie, Martinique: Centre de Recherches Caraibes, Fonds Saint Jacques. [URL].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kingsley, Charles. 1871. At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. London: Macmillan and Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lefevere, André, ed. 1992a. Translation, History and Culture: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1992b. Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Frame. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maynard, Percival. 1933. “His Last Fling Way.” Beacon 2 (11): 13–16.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mérine, Katia. 2011. “Creolisation and Translation of Creoleness in ‘La Passion de notre Seigneur selon Saint-Jean en Language Nègre.’” Entertext 2 (2): 51–67. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milne-Home, Pamela. 1890. Mamma’s Black Nurse Stories. Edinburgh, London: Blackwood and Sons.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mendes, Alfred. 1929. “Her Chinaman’s Way.” Trinidad 1 (1): 15–25.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1931a. “Sweetman.” Beacon 1 (7): 1–6.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1931b. “Waterpiece.” Beacon 1 (8): 6–7.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1932. “Boodhoo.” Beacon 1 (11): 18–25.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Munday, Jeremy. 2001. Introducing Translation Studies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, Shana, and Sali Tagliamonte. 2004. “Back to the Present: Verbal -s in the (African-American) English Diaspora.” In The Legacy of Non-standard Colonial English: The Study of Transported Dialects, ed. by Raymond Hickey, 203–223. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prahalad, Anand Sw. 2005. “Africana Folklore: History and Challenges.” The Journal of American Folklore 118 (469): 253–270. [URL]. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
“Quashie Kalkito.” Argos (Port of Spain, Trinidad), February 9 – March 16, 1919.
Ramcharitar, Raymond. 2011. “The Beacon Short Story and the Colonial Imaginary in Trinidad.” In The Caribbean Short Story: Critical Perspectives, ed. by Lucy Evans, Mark McWatt, and Emma Smith, 59–75. Leeds: Peepal Tree Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramsawack, Albert. 2010. “Telephone interview.” November 9, 2010.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. 2004. “Reconstructing the Saladoid Religion of Trinidad and Tobago.” The Journal of Caribbean History 38 (2): 243–278.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, Peter. 2007. West Indians and Their Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saldahna, Gabriela, and Sharon O’Brien. 2014. Research Methodologies in Translation Studies. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
“Sammy the Coolie Boy”. Jan 1920. Trinidad Weekly Guardian, (Port of Spain, Trinidad).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Snell-Hornsby, Mary. 2008. “What’s in a turn? On Fits, Starts and Writhings in Recent Translation Studies.” Translation Studies 2 (1): 41–51. [URL]. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomas, John Jacob. 1869. The Theory and Practice of Creole Grammar. Port of Spain: The Chronicle Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomasos, C.A. 1933. “The Dougla.” Beacon 2 (10): 9–11.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wahab, Amar. 2003. “Re-writing Colonized Subjects: Disciplinary Gestures in Charles Kingley’s At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies (1871).” Revista Mexicana Del Caribe VIII (016): 133–178. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Ning. 2006. “Translatology Criticism and Culture.” Studies in Translatology 14 (2): 107–114. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Welker, Glenn. 1996. “Taino Legends.” Indigenous People’s Literature. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiktionary. 2012. Open Content Dictionary. “Zariba.” Wikimedia, Accessed April 2012. [URL].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Winer, Lise. 2009. Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. Montreal: McGill Queens University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer. 2001. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage Publications. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Del Valle Idárraga, Mónica María
2017. Apuntes preliminares: El creol y la traducción literaria en el Gran Caribe. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción 10:1 ► pp. 4 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue