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Decol07a


Translate a scientific concept into an African language I 
Convenor:
Gérard Amougou (Université de Yaoundé)
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Chair:
Mamadou Diawara (Goethe Universität)
Discussant:
Elisio Macamo (University of Basel)
Format:
Panel
Stream:
Linguistic and visual (de)colonialisms
Location:
Room 1015
Sessions:
Friday 10 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin

Short Abstract:

This panel is an invitation to take a scientific concept, built at the confluence of a European experience, to confront it with African materials whatever they may be.

Long Abstract:

Translating a scientific concept into an African vernacular requires a certain clarification in order to better situate the heuristic stake of such an exercise. This preliminary effort is more crucial in a global context where the language of the social sciences is essentially Western-centered. This panel is an invitation to take a scientific concept, built at the confluence of a European experience, to confront it with African materials whatever they may be. The proposed translation exercise is to put this concept back at the heart of African cosmogony, in particular in the socio-cosmic matrix of a region, tribe or language chosen in order to identify its different possible universes of meaning. Of course, attention will also be paid to strictly literal untranslatable concepts with a view to explore other ways of meaning of them in specific fields of inquiry. In this, the inductive approach is strongly recommended insofar as it favors a work of translation from the materials. What do scientific concepts really refer to when they are confronted with African languages ​​and materials? What meanings can they (or not) take within universes with meanings different from their original contexts of elaboration? To what extent does the untranslatable character of certain concepts inform the challenges of translation in the social sciences in a globalized world?

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Friday 10 June, 2022, -