7 Resources on Translating Blackness, Race, and Racism
Five years ago, John Keene published “Translating Poetry, Translating Blackness,” a clarion call for more Afro-diasporic literature in English translation, noting the exclusion of Black writers from the already marginalized market of translated literature. Even greater than the dearth of Black literature in translation is the dearth of Black translators into English, not to mention the lack of writing about translating Blackness evidenced by the fact that discussions of race and translation tend to reference Keene’s essay and not much else.
This list provides resources to further the discussion on translating Blackness, race, and racism and foregrounds the work of Black translators and other translators of color. Topics range from the translation of Black literature to support for BIPOC translators to the translation of the Black Lives Matter movement. The various pieces touch on a key point of Keene’s argument: that mo
Falling in Love with Bahia & Brazil: On Negritude, Saudade, & Surrender
Naomi Jackson reflects on her own intellectual and cultural journey, finding affirmation in Afro-Brazilian culture, and a new dimension to her love and fascination for the stories of Black people.
I have been trying actively to stave off a case of Brazil-o-philia since the early 2000s when I lived in pre-gentrification Brooklyn. Preventive care for me looked like resisting the allure of capoeira classes, which offered the promise of instant friendship and community, endless references to obscure terminology, a pet name (as a West Indian, it’s hard for me to resist affectionate teasing and nicknames), and a warrior physique. Determined to keep my hot foot off Brazilian soil, I cut short conversations with friends who traveled to Brazil and caught Luso-fever. I thought that the Caribbean, West Africa, and South Africa, where I’d traveled in search of Blackness that both reflected and diverged from my own in w