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“Everything Got Kinda Strange after a While:” Some Reflections on Translating N avajo Poetry that Should not be Translated
Author(s) -
Webster Anthony K.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 1559-9167
DOI - 10.1111/anhu.12069
Subject(s) - generosity , poetry , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , context (archaeology) , linguistics , indigenous , literature , sociology , art , philosophy , theology , history , social science , biology , ecology , archaeology
Summary Inspired by an inquiry from a N avajo friend about why I had not published on a particular poem by R ex L ee J im, this paper engages that question through three interconnected themes. First, there will be an analysis of the poem by J im where I translate the poem but also place it within the context of N avajo concerns with k'é (reciprocity, generosity). Second, I turn to thinking through some of the issues brought out in the translation of the N avajo word ajik'eed as “one fucks.” This leads to questions about the ways that indigenous languages and their speakers are imagined and represented. Finally, I take up the foregoing issues as I reflect on my own translation practices.