Article published in:
Babel
Vol. 62:3 (2016) ► pp. 349–369

Skopos translation theory, text-types, and the African postcolonial text in intercultural postcolonial communication

A theoretical reflection

The Postcolonial text is a political and ideological text that is differentiable in translation. This is because of its location in the dialogic and discursive communicative exchange between former coloniser and former colonised cultures and societies. This communicative exchange takes place in the situation and condition of asymmetrical relations and relations of inequality and involves the contestation of histories, cultures, meanings, identities and representations. The functionality of the postcolonial text with its message is fixated on this dialogue and discourse; and each postcolonial text is a single statement directly and specifically responding to this dialogue and discourse in some way. This paper examines the African postcolonial text* and its communicative location in the light of postcolonial theory and the possibility offered by the skopos functional theory in translation to set aside the purpose and function of the source text intended by the author. Using Chinua Achebe’s texts, It would conclude that the mediatory role of the translator in the dialogic and discursive exchange between former coloniser and former colonised cultures and societies need not become interference in the application of the skopos theory.

Keywords: skopos theory, African postcolonial text, intercultural postcolonial communication, postcolonial theory, cultural identity
Published online: 29 November 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.62.3.01eke
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