1. Introducción
1.4 Limitaciones
within for example the rhythm were not captured in the translation as it was not possible to translate with the same rhymes. A comparison of what is said in the songs with what is said or not said in the interviews has been considered, for example it may be easier to say certain things in a song than in a conversation.
3.4 Translation and my Position
Interviews were conducted in a mixture of Ndebele and English languages. It is of note that when I negotiated for the language to use in interviews with members of ZAM and they all requested to be interviewed in Ndebele and not English. This request to use Ndebele language in the interviews was justified by the assertion that they were not educated, as Ndebele people and therefore not able to speak English. This was further followed by a celebration of my role as a Ndebele researcher, in that I would be able to translate their voices into a language that is more universally recognised than Ndebele, English. In all my interactions with the ZAM members they expressed gratitude at having “one of them”11 that is myself as a Ndebele who was educated and part of the community of educated people but also a part of the Ndebele people. In my translation of the interview scripts of the ZAM members, therefore I was bridging a barrier between the community of Ndebeles and the academic community, that is, according to their view of me. Venuti speaks of communities that are created by translation of literature (Venuti, 2004). In this instance, ZAM members imagine an academic community, which is also real, which they are not able to access and see my role as a researcher, as one who is bridging the gap between them as Ndebele non- academics and the academic community who will be exposed to my study.
ZAM members requested to use Ndebele in the interviews however as the interviews progressed the conversations were not strictly in Ndebele however words would be borrowed from English and the narratives produced were of mixed language. The text below is an example of the language mixing that occurred.
ama Human Rights
even laba abantu bama human rights
11 I was regarded as ‘one of them’ because I am Ndebele. There were varying degrees to which I was a part of the group because I was seen as an insider and at the same time as an outsider because I am a University Student therefore ‘educated’ of which they claim not to be.
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I would like to condemn them ngiyaba condemn angazi kangaki
The translated text reads as follows;
The human rights
even these people from human rights organisations I would like to condemn them
I don’t know how many times I condemn them
In the above quote, the word 'condemn' is used because no direct equivalent for the word can be found in Ndebele. In other instances the participant would say something in Ndebele and translate that to English for emphasis, as shown below
Ngokubona kwami kwakuyindlela yokuthi bachithe amaNdebele
Or else ngithi ukuwa destroyer amaNdebele
In the first sentence the Ndebele word for destroy which is bachithe is used and then it is translated to English by the participant in the following phrase and she says destroyer.
Though English was used in the interviews I still had to translate the interview transcripts into text in English using the above quote for example a translation of the quote would be as follows
from my point of view it was meant to destroy the Ndebele in English I could use the word destroy
As I translated the ZAM member’s interview transcripts I had challenges as it is not always possible to find the exact or words that are equivalent to those used by the ZAM members in English. Systems of ideas and signs for them differ between languages and so some of the meanings in the Ndebele transcripts may not have been transmitted into the English transcripts (Schleiermacher, 2004). This challenge was most pronounced in my transcribing of the songs and poems from the CD. The poems and songs were performed in Ndebele and in some cases with a mixture of Ndebele and English. The meaning of the songs that is expressed by the rhythm and alterations of tone could not be easily captured in the translation. Schleiermacher (2004) calls this the fidelity of rhythm and melody and the
36 fidelity of grammar and dialect. It is at times not possible to have both of these in the translated text. In this case I chose to translate the meanings that are in grammar leaving out the tone and melody of the songs and poems. It was not possible to translate the poems with the same rhyme found in the Ndebele versions, for example in the quote below
Ikhaya likhaya, noma likhatshana Likhaya ikhaya ngitshu’ngakhal’ukhalale The translated text reads as follows:
Home is home even when it is far Home is home even if you cry and give up
The English version of this segment of the poem does not have the rhyme that is produced by the K, in the Ndebele version. The musical elements of a language reveal themselves in rhythm and alterations of tone which may hold higher meaning (Schleiermacher, 2004). In this case therefore the meaning is translated however without the accompanying changes in tone and rhyme that is in the original. This therefore means that some of the meanings of the songs and poetry that are within the rhythm and tone may have been lost in the translation. In translating the interview scripts, songs and poems I have endeavoured to transmit the same impression I received of the original texts. It has not been possible that I find words or phrases that cohere exactly to some of those used by the ZAM members in the interviews and in their songs. Where this has occurred I have endeavoured to find as close as possible a word or phrase in English, for example the phrase amathambo amhlophe which is used in the song Inkulu le ndaba literally means “white bones” however it also means the remains of those that were not properly buried. I have in the analysis used the cultural meaning and not the literal meaning of the phrase (see Behar, 2003).
The following chapters detail the meanings that ZAM members have narrated in relation of their experiences of Gukurahundi. Chapter four discusses, the Zimbabwe Action Movement and its role in the construction of the meanings of Gukurahundi. Chapter five focuses on the silence surrounding Gukurahundi experienced by ZAM members as well as the kind of remembering they call for to break this silence. Chapter six outlines the meanings of
37 Gukurahundi in relation to the Ndebele ethnic identity and also ends with the strategy for coping that ZAM members adopt in the form of reclaiming the Zimbabwean identity.
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