A Brief History of Translation of Ngoma: The Historical Transformation of the Meaning of the African Local Concept through Translation

Abstract

Translation during the colonial period has been discussed in terms of controlling “subjects” through “mistranslations” that deliberately undermine the value of their culture. These studies tend to consider changes in the meaning of the local concept through translation as a linear process of fixing meaning. However, such studies have rarely discussed the differences in meanings in different translations by different actors in the colonial period, ignoring the dynamics of historical changes. This paper, therefore, focuses on the local concept of ngoma of the Kikuyu, one of the ethnic groups in East Africa. It traces the process of how ngoma has been translated in different genres of publication during the first half of the 20th century. Finally, it shows how different authors who wrote about ngoma focused on different aspects of ngoma based on their interests and perspectives.