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Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix

Indigenous Muslim interpreters in Colonial Senegal, 1850–1920
  • Tamba M’bayo
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Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting
This chapter is in the book Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting

Abstract

The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers and colonized Africans offers a window through which we see how both unequal relations of power and cultural capital shaped the intercessions of indigenous intermediaries in colonial Senegal. Despite their subordinate position in the French colonial administration, the interpreters held sway over information/knowledge conveyed to their kinfolk, which could influence perceptions about the dynamics of power relations between the French authorities and Africans. Drawing on the mediations of Muslim interpreters in colonial Senegal from 1850 to 1920, this chapter engages broader issues about the provenance of sources, retrieving indigenous voices in historical reconstruction, and producing knowledge and counternarratives in African history.

Abstract

The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers and colonized Africans offers a window through which we see how both unequal relations of power and cultural capital shaped the intercessions of indigenous intermediaries in colonial Senegal. Despite their subordinate position in the French colonial administration, the interpreters held sway over information/knowledge conveyed to their kinfolk, which could influence perceptions about the dynamics of power relations between the French authorities and Africans. Drawing on the mediations of Muslim interpreters in colonial Senegal from 1850 to 1920, this chapter engages broader issues about the provenance of sources, retrieving indigenous voices in historical reconstruction, and producing knowledge and counternarratives in African history.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159.05mba

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
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