Translation as Dismembering and Re-membering: Non-Acoli-Speaking Lawinos and the Expansion of Contested Spaces in Okot P’Bitek’s Song of Lawino

Abstract

The central argument of this essay is that translation can impact negatively and positively on a literary work. Crucial meaning is sacrificed as a result of translation, but the process can also bring to the text novel meanings, which help in the fuller appreciation of its communication. The essay uses illustrations from several translations of Song of Lawino to argue that the interaction between cultures in the translation process, as well as the linguistic choices deliberately made by translators, can diminish and regenerate aspects of the original form and meaning of the text in ways that can lead to the creation of “new Lawinos,” as some critics have put it. This is evident in the interaction between P’Bitek’s Wer pa Lawino (Acoli), Song of Lawino (English), Lo Liyong’s The Defence of Lawino (English), Kiyimba’s Omulanga gwa Lawino (Luganda) and Sozigwa’s Wimbo wa Lawino (Kiswahili). The process of translation constitutes continuous acts of dismembering and re-membering of the text. Issues of linguistic accuracy, cultural identity and the multiple displacements of Lawino are prominent features of this discussion.

Key words: dismembering, re-membering, “new Lawinos,” linguistic accuracy, multiple displacements, cultural identity