Translating culture in West African drama

Abstract

West African drama helps to redefine the concept of cultural translation as it has been understood in translation studies via postcolonial and feminist theories. In looking at the tradition of Ghanaian and Nigerian anglophone playwrights we come to a richer understanding of the concept as it has been theorized in plays by both early playwrights like Joe DeGraft and Wole Soyinka and later playwrights like Jacob Yirenkyi and Tess Osonye Onwueme, who continue the tradition. Not only do the West African texts show the value of translation and the translator to the cultures represented, but they also demonstrate the function of intra-cultural translation as a method to highlight and critique power differentials based on gender and class within their cultures. Ultimately, while West African drama theorizes cultural translation to comment upon local cultures, it can also help to reshape global discourses within translation studies to enrich the debates that define the field while adding to our knowledge of the innovation and complexity of the West African literary tradition.