Africanization Or De-Africanization: A Descriptive Study on Turkish Translations of Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country

Abstract

Representation of culture is considerably important in postcolonial texts. Through this representation, postcolonial authors reach their aim to create a cultural identity and resist hegemonic cultures. To investigate the role of translation in transferring cultural elements this study will analyze one of the significant works representing apartheid period of South Africa, Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country (1948), and its Turkish Translations by Mehmet Harmancı (Ağla Sevgili Yurdum, 1981) and İnci Gürel (Ağla Sevgili Yurdum, 1986). As Paton portrays the condition of South Africa he uses a hybrid style and cultural references particular to the Zulu culture. Hence, the translation strategies applied during the transfer of these cultural items play an important role in transferring the cultural otherness and creating a cultural identity. To that end, the cultural references in Cry, the Beloved Country are categorized based on Newmark’s categorization of culture specific items. The translation strategies applied by the translators these references are further determined based on the translation strategies proposed by Newmark and Aixela. These strategies are further elaborated in line with Venuti’s approach of foreignization and domestication to identify through which strategies and to what extent the cultural otherness intentionaly created by the writer is transferred. Following the analysis conducted based on the two translations this thesis sets forth that strategies which fall under the category of foreignization are the most common strategies adopted by both translators. It was also inferred that other strategies in line with domestication were also used by two translators in transferring the cultural references.