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Capa > v. 20, n. 34 (2018) > Hamilton

Translation and the anglophone black female literature in Brazil

Norma Diana Hamilton^[1]

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ABSTRACT:

In the Brazilian context, the overall theoretical and literary contribution of Anglophone female writers of African descent has not received much attention, with very little translation and publication of their work. The aim of this article is to develop a dialogue between Black Feminism and Translation Studies, as well as to discuss the translator’s role in the translation of the literary work of Caribbean female writers of African descent, as a means of contributing to the recognition of these writers in the Brazilian literary field. Our theoretical foundation is based on translation theorists, André Lefevere, Lawrence Venuti, Gideon Toury, feminist translation scholars, Susan Bassnett, Suzanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, Myriam Diaz-Diocaretz, Black feminists, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, Verene Shepherd, and Post-colonial translation scholars Tejaswini Niranjana, Maria Tymoczko, among others. Translators of Post-colonial female writing must take ‘interventionist’ measures to avoid misrepresentation and reductionism. Literary Translation can and should be used as a site of struggle and resistance.  

Keywords: Translation Studies, Black Feminism, Black Caribbean female writers, Post-colonial Literary Translation.

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RESUMO:

No contexto brasileiro, a contribuição teórica e literária geral de escritoras anglófonas afrodescendentes tem recebido pouca atenção, e tem sido traduzido e publicado em pequena escala. O objetivo deste artigo é desenvolver um diálogo entre o Feminismo Negro e os Estudos de Tradução, assim como discutir o papel do/da tradutor/a na tradução da obra literária produzida por escritoras afro-caribenhas, como forma de contribuir para a visibilidade dessas escritoras no campo literário brasileiro. Nossa fundamentação teórica é baseada nos trabalhos de teóricos da tradução, André Lefevere, Lawrence Venuti, Gideon Toury, feministas téoricas da tradução, Susan Bassnett, Suzanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, Myriam Diaz-Diocaretz, feministas negras, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, Verene Shepherd, e feministas teóricas da tradução pós-colonial, Tejaswini Niranjana, Maria Tymoczko, dentre outras/os. Tradutoras/es da produção literária feminina pós-colonial precisam tomar medidas ‘intervencionistas’ para evitar o reducionismo e distorção. A Tradução Literária pode e deve ser utilizada como um campo de luta e resistência.

Palavras-chave: Estudos da Tradução, Feminismo Negro, Escritoras Afro-caribenhas, Tradução Literária Pós-colonial.

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In the Brazilian context, the overall theoretical and literary contribution of Anglophone female writers of African descent has not received much attention, with very little translation and publication of their work. In the very significant anthology Traduções da Cultura: perspectivas críticas feministas (1970 – 2010) translated from English to Brazilian Portuguese, organized and published in 2017 by Brazilian feminist Isabel Brandão et al, among forty four theoretical texts presented, no more than four are from feminist scholars of African descent. Similarly, one does not have to search hard to find that, among the literary work of 20th century literature, for instance, written in English from the Americas, only a handful of novels by Black female authors has been translated and published in Brazil. The aim of this article is to develop a dialogue between Black Feminism and Translation Studies, as well as to discuss the translator’s role in the translation of the literary work of Caribbean women writers of African descent, as a means of contributing to making the work of these writers visible in the Brazilian literary field.

Susan Bassnett, a white English feminist translation scholar and literary critic, points out that, although the development of the discipline of Translation Studies in the 1970s took place concomitantly with the coming into being of feminist theory, it was only recently that a dialogue between both areas has initiated. Such a dialogue was made possible due to the “cultural turn” in Translations Studies as of the late 1980s and early 1990s, through the work of translations scholars, André Lefevere, Susan Bassnett, Lawrence Venuti, among others. These theorists pointed out that language and culture were inextricably linked; and they insisted on the acknowledgement of the heavily influential force of culture and underlying ideologies on the study, practice and role of translation.

The period of the cultural turn brought a burgeoning diversification in Translation Theory. Among prominent theories that came into being is the concept of Patronage by Lefevere (2004). For him, within the general literary system, there exists a focus on maintaining an asymmetrical balance of power, rather than merely conveying meaning, and that these relations of power become a part of the entire translation process. Such relations determine which texts are selected for translation, which guidelines are chosen to govern the procedure of translation, as well as what position the translated text occupies in the ‘target’ society. These interests point to those in charge of commissioning and producing the work. As Lefevere points out, these bodies, or ‘patrons’ are concerned with the ideological force of literature, instead of the poetics of literature itself. Patrons include the publishing industry, the government, the media, the ruling social class, and so on.
Early in the 20th century, the white feminist Virginia Woolf (1929) showed us that most of the general literature (including translated texts) about women were produced by men. It is not difficult to understand that, because men historically formed the ruling class, their perspective was given privilege over that of women. Similarly, in patriarchal Eurocentric Western societies, the perspectives of Whites have been historically given privilege over that of Blacks. Then, if making White women’s theoretical and literary work visible has been a difficult task, making Black women’s contribution visible has been even more arduous and challenging. The existence of power relations within the literary system, which maintain the interest of specific groups, accounts for the little attention given to the literary works of Black Caribbean female writers in the Brazilian context.

Mainstream feminism and translation studies

Among several issues explored by mainstream feminists in their engagement with translation studies is a parallel that they identified between the traditional view of translation and the historical and ideological construction of gender. Bassnett (1992) points out that in the 1970s, translators worked towards deconstructing a binary concept of equivalence, understood as a mechanical approach to the process of translation. This process involved “the exchange of textual and semantic units in the source language for the same or very similar ones in the target language (CATFORD, 1965, p. 20). The binary concept constructed a hierarchical relation between the original text/the author and the translated text/the translator, in which the latter were considered subordinate.

With the cultural turn in translation, the binary concept of equivalence was transformed, as Lefevere, Bassnett, and others, showed us that translation was not merely a mechanical conversion of lexical units between languages, but a form of transfer that involved the expression of the culture related both to the original text and the translated text. Within this line of thought, translation scholar Gideon Toury insisted that the translation process surrounded the deconstruction of the original text, the “transference of features” from this text “across semiotic borders”, for its (re)composition as the translated text (1984, p. 73-85).

Following the transformation of the binary concept of equivalence – that is, no longer considered in a purely linguistic sense, but grounded on cultural difference – translation came to be seen as a process of Rewriting, once it occurs within a cultural and ideological framework that influences the reading and interpretation of the text (HERMANS, 1999; SHUPING, 2013). This novel understanding in Translation Studies brought about an elevation of the status of translation, as the translator/translated text are no longer seen as subordinate to the author/original text. Translating and writing are now seen as interconnected, with one giving meaning to the other.

The parallel identified by feminist translation scholars relates to the former status of translation – that is, considered derivative and inferior to the original writing – and that of women, also construed in a binary relation with men. Bassnett tells us that in the 1970s, similarly to translation scholars, feminists such as Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Hélène Cixous, Elisabetta Rasy, and others, worked towards transforming the binary opposition male-female, in which they were unjustly subordinated.

By creating a bridge between Translation Studies and Feminism, feminist translation scholars have contributed significantly to elevating the status of translation. They have endorsed and elaborated on the concept of translation as Rewriting. They perceive the translation process as in-betweeness: the translator becomes a mediator, since he develops a compound act of reading and writing (MEZEI, 1985, p. 21-31).

Feminist translation theorists have addressed important ethical issues in translation, illustrating how certain metaphors and concepts used in Translation Studies may have underlying sexist ideologies. Bassnett (1992) identifies a polarization in the binary concept of ‘source’ and ‘target’ texts in Translation Studies. She sees this as having metaphoric implication, in which ‘source’ has feminine connotations, and ‘target’ points to militaristic masculine meanings. With the very significant title of her essay “Writing in No Man’s Land” (1992), Bassnett desires an avoidance of connotations in translation that construct a masculine-feminine polarization, and the creation of an androgynous (neither male nor female) space/writing.

Another case pointed out by feminist scholars is the traditional thought of translation as being ‘faithful’ to the original text: a comparison between women and translation is implied. They have urged Translation Studies to avoid the idea of ‘faithfulness’, “rejecting it as spurious in the same way as the notion of equivalence as sameness has been rejected” (BASSNETT, 1992, p. 67).

In addition to that, these scholars have questioned the role of the translator and his/her choices in dealing with gender bias in language. In addressing the issue of the translation of feminist texts, Diaz-Diocaretz is concerned with distortions and reductionism on the part of the translator, reproducing misogynist views of the original text. She calls for a more critical thinking and profound reflection by the translator, so as to avoid gender bias and sexist ideology:

authors consciously writing from a woman identified perspective, who are creating texts in order to widen the semantic possibilities for the female speaker, call for the translator’s additional cooperation (1985, p. 156).  

Feminist translators have used translation strategies as a way of avoiding gender bias and constructing a positive identity for women. Suzanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, for instance, sees her practice of translation as a political activity “aimed at making language speak for women […], making the feminine visible in language” (1989, p. 9).

We might agree that mainstream feminist translation scholars have contributed to the politics of inclusion, translation and the literary system. However, not all the gaps have been filled.

Translation studies and black feminism

Although there has been an extensive dialogue between mainstream Feminism and Translation Studies, little work has been done so far in creating a bridge between Black Feminism and the discipline of Translation. Much of the significant contribution by Black feminists to mainstream Feminism has not been contemplated in feminist translation theories. In their rejection of the binary concepts male/female and writing/translation, feminist translation theorists have not taken into consideration the binary opposition between white women and black women, constructed through ideology in patriarchal racist societies – as pointed out by black feminist scholars.

There is a lot to be gained by the feminist translation school and by Translation Studies in general, from Black Feminism. African American feminists such as Patricia J. Williams (1991), Patricia Hill Collins (2009), Yaba Blay (2011), as well as Black Caribbean feminists, Verene Shepherd (2014), Rhoda Reddock (2009), and many others, have revealed the ambiguity and elusiveness of the concept of race, uprooting the biological factor considered decisive in the question of identity. They have shown us that ‘race’ is an ideological hierarchical social concept that attributes value to human beings, and that involves the concession of privileges, immunities, rights and power to specific groups, as well as the exclusion of others. This value is not intrinsic, “natural”, or determined biologically. However, “as a system, many people participate in it, and as an ideology, many people think, feel, behave, and operate according to it, and in many ways defend and uphold it – White and non-White alike” (BLAY, 2011, p. 7).

Such insight by Black feminist scholars can endorse (feminist) translation theories that regard meaning as being produced, constructed, rather than merely found. Meaning is created through Language and Representation. Meaning and Language is ambiguous and elusive. As Hall points out,

there is a constant sliding of meaning in all interpretation, a margin – something in excess of what we intend to say – in which other meanings overshadow the statement or the text, where other associations are awakened to life, giving what we say a different twist. So interpretation becomes an essential aspect of the process by which meaning is given and taken (1997, p. 33).

Since meaning is constructed through language and representation, translation is a system of representation, in which meaning is constructed in an ideological framework. The translator gives new meaning to the text, and is equally a part of the ‘discourse formation’ (FOUCAULT, 1980) as is the original author.

In their analyses of the functioning of oppression against Black women, the African American feminists, as well as Black Caribbean feminists, have pointed out that gender, race, class, sexuality are historical constructions, which are imbricated, despite their specificities. The African American Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989, 2007) showed us that these aspects should not be considered as ‘added’ or ‘mixed’ in the debate on oppression, but should be studied through intersectional lenses. This would enable us to capture the structural and dynamic consequences of interaction between two or more axes of subordination: the way in which racism, patriarchalism, class oppression, and other discriminatory systems of subordination create basic inequalities that organize and structure the relative positions of Black women.

Taken in this light, we should then reconsider the idea that language is gendered – as pointed out by mainstream feminist theorists. For us, language is not only gendered, but it can also be seen as racialized, class oriented, etc. To explain what we mean by language as being racialized, we use the critique of traditional American literature made by the African American feminist writer and critic Toni Morrison. In her book Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992), she shows us how otherness is constructed in traditional American literature, in which whiteness and American identity are construed in opposition to the presence of Black/Africanist characters. She states that no American literary work is free of the Africanist presence,

a shadow [that] hovers in implication, in sign, in line of demarcation ... this Africanist other became the means of thinking about body, mind, chaos, kindness, and love; provided the occasion for exercises in the absence of restraint, the presence of restraint, the contemplation of freedom and of aggression; permitted  opportunities for the exploration of ethics and morality, for meeting the obligations of the social contract, for bearing the cross of religion and following out the ramifications of power (p. 47-48).

Morrison’s work reveals how language (and literary strategies) is used to construct otherness and relations of power between Blacks and Whites, through an ever-present racial component in the language used in traditional American literature. Taking a look at a passage from Edgar Allan Poe’s book The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, discussed by Morrison, we are able to get a better understanding of how this works. In a nutshell, the book surrounds travel and being shipwrecked at sea. The following passage describes a moment that the vessel meets water rapids.

The darkness had materially increased, relieved only by the glare of the water thrown back from the white curtain before us. Many gigantic and pallidly white birds flew continuously now from beyond the veil, and their scream was the eternal Tekelili! as they retreated from our vision Here upon Nu-Nu stirred in the bottom of the boat; but, upon touching him, we found his spirit departed. And now we rushed into the embraces of the cataract, where a chasm threw itself open to receive us. But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure very far larger in its proportions that any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow (1838, p. 198).

In our understanding, this constructed speech is racialized, once there is an association of ‘darkness’, death and defeat with the Black character Nu-Nu. On the other hand, whiteness, purity, a god-like figure and the possibility of salvation are images associated with the White characters.

In our wider research, we have seen that racialized discourses involve the use of language strategies of stereotyping and dehumanizing Black characters, as well as the establishment of binary oppositions. Verene Shepherd, a Jamaican feminist historian, tells us that in the historical accounts given by European historians on 20th century Caribbean, female slaves are represented stereotypically and animal-like, in contrast to White women. “The accounts considered female slaves as unattractive, vulgar, lazy, in need of civilization”, whereas White women are represented as docile, and delicate (SHEPHERD et al., 1995, p. xiii).

Within an intersectional comprehension of language as gendered and racialized, it is possible to broaden our perspectives on language and translation. Black feminist translators have used language as a political emancipatory tool. In their activity of translation, they have worked towards interrupting misogynist racist discourses that have served to subordinate Black women, as well as giving voice to the Black female subject.

Language as resistance and the role of the translator

As of the 1970s, there has been a steady increase in the publication of literary work by Black diasporic female writers in the Caribbean. Writers such as Merle Hodge, Jamaica Kincaid, Erna Brodber, among many others, have dedicated themselves to constructing a Black female literary tradition. This tradition establishes a more trustworthy and unbiased representation of Black women, with positive identities, in contrast to the defaming representation in traditional literature and historiography, which seek to oppress them. 

One of the focuses in the literary works of these writers is to expose the double oppression of race and gender faced by Black women in patriarchal Eurocentric societies. In addressing these questions in their novels, Black Caribbean female writers seek to recapture the history of Black peoples based on their perspective, and not that of the colonizer – which generally occurs in traditional literature. In The Empire Writes Back (1989), Ashcroft et al highlight the importance in Post-colonial writing of analyzing history from the perspective of the colonized, as a way of constructing more just and positive representations about themselves.

We have seen that in traditional literary works, Black women are represented as homogenous beings with little or no intellectual complexity. In the literary works written by Black Caribbean female authors, we see that these women demonstrate resilience in their struggle to overcome oppression. By portraying the heterogeneous experiences of these women, Black female writers address questions such as their social relationships and the construction of their identities in the Black diaspora.
In her renowned essay “A Journey into Speech”, the Jamaican American feminist writer and critic Michelle Cliff states that,

to write as a complete Caribbean woman, […] demands of us retracting the African part of ourselves, reclaiming as our own, and as our subject, a history sunk under the sea, or trapped in a class system notable for its rigidity and absolute dependence on color stratification. On a past bleached from our minds. It means finding the art forms of these of our ancestors and speaking in the patois forbidden us. […] It means also, I think, mixing in the forms taught us by the oppressor, undermining his language and co-opting his style, and turning it to our purpose (1985, p. 14).

Cliff speaks of the importance of writing from one’s own perspective and language, in order to create a literature of resistance. This is what Black Caribbean diasporic female writers have been doing. They have used their double linguistic heritage – Creole languages and Standard English – in their literary works as a strategy of deconstruction and resistance to the dominant oppressive discourse, and as a means of giving voice to the silenced female subject. Creole languages, formed from African languages and European languages, have a hybrid characteristic and do represent resistance, once they came into being, due to the struggle of slaves against the oppression of the colonizer.

Erna Brodber is a Jamaican writer, whose novels portray a double linguistic heritage: patois,a Creole language and Standard English. This is evident in Jane and Lousia Will Soon Come Home (1980), a bildungsroman novel, in which Brodber addresses the issues related to the coming of age and youth of the protagonist Nellie, in her contradictory patriarchal diasporic social context. Nellie grows up in a rural village in Jamaica. Some of the important issues dealt with in the novel include: the mentoring of older women to younger women; the use of religious beliefs as guidelines for social behavior; the imposition of Eurocentric values in daily activities; the unequal sexual freedom between men and women; teenage pregnancy and the lack of prospects for young mothers; focus on the body of the woman, associated with immanence in opposition to the male transcendent being (BEAUVOIR, 1980); gender and race relations, among others. We can identify some of these issues in the passage below, which is a conversation between sixteen years old Nellie and her aunt Becca. Something that is striking about the conversation is that the speakers use Standard English, and only at the end, Aunt Becca switches to the Creole language.

                       
-You remember Baba Ruddock, Auntie-
- No-
-You must remember him. He’s from our place-
- If you say I must, then I suppose I must-
- You must remember him. Mass Stanley’s grandson. You know Mass Stanley, Auntie. He used to be the best quadrille dancer and you yourself said he used to be the best jitterbug dancer when you were you […].
- Hmm-
-He is the most popular boy at school and he wants to take me to see Jack the Ripper.-
- Silence
- You know the film that is showing at the Globe-
- Silence-
- But Globe is just around the corner. Nothing cann happen to us-
Sigh
-But it is a Saturday night and I am on holidays-
-It is my responsibility-
- But I am sixteen, a prefect at school and a patrol leader. You let me go on hikes. […] You let me go to festivals by myself at night. I don’t understand-
-It is my responsibility and girls so hard to grow up-
Silence
-Somebody should tell you that his uncle spoil your Cousin B’s life. Those people will drag you down child-
Silence
-I now you’re vex but think of me. What would I tell your parents if your life get stopped part way. You have a chance to make something of your life. Seize it-
-But Globe is just around the corner. What could happen in that little space of time?-
-Hmm. Somebody should tell you that it only takes two seconds…that you would have to go back to that place and sit down on your mother and father-
-So I must sit here quiet like an alabaster baby because I am my cousin B?-
-Learn that lest you be weighed in the balance and found wanting. Learn that the world is waiting to drag you down. “Woman luck de a jungle heap”, they say, “fowl come scratch it up”. But you save yourself lest you turn woman before your time, before the wrong fowl scratch you luck-
(BRODBER, 1980, p. 16-17)

It is important to note that the greater part of the novel is written in Standard English with intermittent code switches to the Creole language. In our understanding, for their literature to be received worldwide, Black Caribbean female authors have written mostly in Standard English alongside the Creole language, the latter being a distinguishing mark and political affirmation of a Black Caribbean identity and resistance to the dominant discourse. Then, it is noteworthy that Aunt Becca uses the historical Jamaican poplar saying “Woman luck de a jungle heap”, as it shows how their African heritage plays a vital role in the process of education.

The use of a double linguistic heritage in their literary work accounts for one of the main reasons why Black Caribbean female literature has been described as “anthropophagic” (HAMILTON, 2018). “Anthropophagy” is a concept that was created by modernist writers to depict the way in which authors from the “Third World” use alternative modes of writing. In our comprehension, they “cannibalize” writing elements and categories from European literature, in order to transform them into new and innovative standards of writing that is adequate for representing their experiences as individuals and as a nation. In the case of the Black female Caribbean writers, besides the transformation of European literary categories, we have seen that they have mixed the usage of the English language with Creole languages – one aspect that points to their enriching creativity.

The issue that we must put forward is that the translator that takes on the task of translating Black female Caribbean literature must be capable of portraying the issues that affect Black women through intersectional lenses. He or she needs to collaborate with the Black female author in emphasizing the different forms of oppression faced by these women. Secondly, the translator must be able to agilely traverse the cultural borders related to Standard English, the Creole Language, as well as the ‘target’ language. Moreover, the translator is charged with portraying the Creole language as a language of resistance, rather than presenting it as a subordinate language.

One of the main concerns in Post-colonial translation Studies is the potential for misrepresentation through different forms of ‘qualitative and quantitative impoverishment’ in such a way that the translated text fails to reflect the objectives of the original text (HODGES, 2010). Similar to the summoning by the feminist Diaz-Diocaretz of the translator’s additional cooperation in translating feminist texts, feminist post-colonial translation scholars such as Tejaswini Niranjana (1992) invite the translator of post-colonial texts to take ‘interventionist’ measures to avoid the misrepresentation and impoverishment of female post-colonial writing.

Referring to the translation of Post-colonial literature in general, post-colonial translation scholar Maria Tymoczko states that, “linguistic features related to the source culture (such as dialect or unfamiliar lexical items) can be highlighted as defamiliarized elements in the text, or be domesticated in some way, or be circumvented altogether” (TYMOCZKO, 1999, p. 21). In Toury’s perspective, “a translator may subject him/herself either to the original text, with the norms it has realized, or to the norms active in the target culture, or in that section of it which would host the end product” (TOURY, 1995, p. 56).

Keeping in mind these theoretical contributions of post-colonial translation scholars, we present our translation of the passage taken from Jane and Louisa Will Soon Home (BRODBER, 1980). This translated text appeared in our doctoral thesis^[2] on the representation of Black female Caribbean writers.

-Você lembra do Baba Ruddock, Auntie-
-Não-
- Você deve lembrar dele. Ele é do nosso lugar-  
- Se você acha que devo lembrar, então acho que lembro-
- Você deve lembrar dele. O neto de Mass Stanley, você conhece Mass Stanley, Tia. Ele era o melhor bailarino de quadrilha quando vocês eram jovens, como você mesma disse. [...]
-Hmm-
-[Baba] é o menino mais famoso na escola e ele quer me levar para o cinema para ver Jack the Ripper.-
Silêncio
- Você conhece o filme que está passando no cinema Globe.-
Siêncio
-Mas o Globe fica aí na esquina. Nada pode nos acontecer-
Suspiro
[...]
- Mas eu tenho dezesseis; sou líder exemplar na minha escola. Você me deixa fazer trilhas nos boques. Você me deixa ir nos festivais de música à noite sozinha. Não compreendo-
- É minha responsabilidade, e é tão difícil criar meninas-
Silêncio
-Alguém deveria te contar que o tio dele estragou a vida da minha Prima B. Essa gente te arrastará para baixo, menina.-
Silêncio
-Sei que você está chateada, mas pense em mim. O que eu diria para seus pais se a sua vida ficasse arruinada. Você tem a oportunidade de fazer algo positivo com sua vida. Aproveite-
-Mas o Globe fica ali na esquina. O que poderia acontecer em tão pouco tempo?-
-Hmm. Alguém deveria te contar que isso só demora alguns segundos...que você teria de voltar para aquele lugar e depender de seus pais-
-Então, devo ficar aqui sentada igual uma bebezinha, porque sou como minha prima B?-
-Aprenda antes que você seja pesada na balança e achada em falta. Aprenda que o mundo deseja te derrubar. “Woman luck de a jungle heap, fowl come scratch it up” ^[3] ,  dizem. Mas você se salva e não se torna mulher antes do tempo, antes que a ave errada resgata sua sorte- (BRODBER, 1980: 16-17, grifos no original).

In our translation of the text, we opted for maintaining the original Creole language, with the objective of causing estrangement in the reader. This is also a way of avoiding reductionism and misrepresentation. Our translated version of the sentence is the Creole language is placed in footnotes, in order that the reader can get an understanding of the meaning of the sentence, without interfering with its impact. As Tymoczko points out,

in the form of introductions, footnotes, critical essays, glossaries, maps and the like, the translator can embed the translated text in a shell that explains necessary cultural and literary background for the receiving audience and that acts as a running commentary on the translated work. Thus, the translator can manipulate more than one textual level simultaneously, in order to encode and explain the source text (TYMOCZKO, 1999, p. 22).

Conclusion

Translators, whether male or female, Black or White, who endeavor to translate, within the Brazilian context, texts about Black women or texts produced by Black women, Black Caribbean female writes, to be specific, must go to painstaking lengths, so as not to reproduce dominant ideology that may oppress these women. They must know that, in taking on the noble task of representing Black women, they are charged with the responsibility of filling in the gaps, where Black women’s rich literary contributions have been neglected for such a long time. Such translators would greatly contribute to the well deserved visibility, recognition and inclusion of these writers, whose perspective has much to offer to the understanding of the reality of our world. We believe that Literature depends on a diversity of views and perspectives that need to be recognized, in order to reflect, in a more just and sincere way, the richness of our society. Literary Translation can and should be used as a site of struggle and resistance.   

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Submetido em 10/05/2018; Aceito em 31/08/2018

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Revista Brasileira de Literatura Comparada, ISSN 0103-6963, ISSN 2596-304X (on line)

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