Interpreting ‘grief’ in Senegal: language, emotions and cross-cultural translation in a francophone African context

Abstract

This article reflects on the profound complexities of translating and interpreting ‘grief’, and emotions and responses to death more broadly, in multilingual, cross-cultural contexts. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in urban Senegal, West Africa, we discuss the exchange of meanings surrounding grief and death through language, including the process of translation, in its broadest sense, between multiple languages (Wolof, French, English). Our experiences demonstrate the crucial importance of involving interpreters and field researchers throughout the research process, to gain fundamental insight into the cultural nuances of indigenous languages and how these are translated and potentially re-framed in the process. We reflect on our iterative process of discussing emerging interpretations with participants in follow-up workshops and with our interpreter. This approach helped shed light on language use surrounding ‘grief’ and how this is bound up with wider socio-cultural norms which make particular emotions surrounding death and experiences/meanings of death and bereavement possible and ‘speak-able’. Our research calls for greater recognition in death and bereavement studies of the cultural specificity of conceptual frameworks developed in minority European socio-linguistic contexts and demonstrates the need for greater engagement with theoretical, empirical and methodological insights gained in diverse cultural contexts in the Majority world.

Résumé

Cet article reflète les complexités profondes de la traduction et de l’interprétation du ‘chagrin’, des émotions et des réponses face à un décès d’une manière générale, dans des contextes multilingues et interculturels. En nous appuyant sur une recherche qualitative menée dans le Sénégal urbain, Afrique de l’Ouest, nous discutons des échanges de significations qui entourent le chagrin et la mort à travers la langue, incluant le processus de traduction, dans son sens plus large, entre différentes langues (wolof, français, anglais). Nos expériences démontrent l’importance cruciale d’impliquer les interprètes et les chercheurs sur le terrain dans tout le processus de recherche, d’avoir une connaissance approfondie des nuances culturelles des langues autochtones et de comprendre comment celles-ci sont traduites et potentiellement reformulées dans le processus. Nous réfléchissons sur notre processus itératif de discussion des interprétations émergentes avec notre interprète et avec les participants lors des ateliers de suivi. Cette approche nous a permis de mettre en lumière l’usage de la langue relative au ‘chagrin’ et de voir comment celui-ci est lié à des normes socioculturelles plus larges qui rendent possibles et ‘exprimables’ les émotions particulières entourant un décès, et les expériences/significations de la mort et du deuil. Notre recherche appelle à une plus grande reconnaissance, dans les études sur la mort, de la spécificité culturelle des cadres conceptuels développés dans les contextes sociolinguistiques de la minorité européenne et démontre le besoin d’un plus grand rapprochement avec les connaissances théoriques, empiriques et méthodologiques acquis dans le Monde majoritaire.

Teunk

Mbide mi day wané diafe diafe you khoote yi am si tekki ak wakh li nek si «Nakhar», si yeug yeug ak tontou yi waar si Dée sokay khayma, si waal you bari si ay lakk ak thiossane ak ada. Sougnou soukandiko si guestou bougnou def si deukou takh yi si sénégal, Afric sowou diante, gnou ngi wakhtane si wethienete teki ay baat si li eumbe Nakhar ak Dee diaraleko si ay lakk (Wolof, nassarane, ak angalais).sou gnouy diangate wane nagnou solo bi am si bolee si tekki kat ak ay guestou kat si waar bi si liguey bi yeup. Am kham kham bou deugueur si woutee si am si doundine ak lakk yi si deuk yi ak kham boubakh naka lagnou lene di tekkee bou lere si guestou bi yeup. Gnou ngi khalate si sougnou diakhalanete bi si tekki kalamayi ak sougnou tekkikate ak gni bok si wakhtane yi. Yone wowou dimbalinagnou si leral yi gnouy dieufeundiko lakk bi dieum si nakhar ak guis naka la lakk bi andee ak doundinou askan wi li lak mo meuneu am tey wane yeuk yeuk yi nite di am sou dee ammee ak li dee ak nakharlou di tekki. Sougnou guestou daf ay dieumelee si nangou guestou yi gnou def si dee , ada yi am si doundine lakk yi li gueuneu touti si nassarane yi te day wane sokhla bi am si diegue kham kham yi yag yi, you teew yi ak si walou dokhaline bi gnou nango si gni eup si adouna bi.

Keywords:

• Grief
• bereavement
• mourning
• widowhood
• translation & interpretation
• language & emotions

Mots clés:

• Chagrin/peine
• Deuil
• Veuvage
• Traduction & interprétation
• Langue et émotions

Li gnou sokhal:

• Nakhar
• Deuthie
• Tendji
• Tekki & diankhate
• Lakk ak yeuk yeuk

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the family members, religious and local leaders and professionals who participated in this study. We are very grateful to Della Reilly, Ivor Placca and Laurence Marie for their translation assistance and to Khady Sarr, Yacine Diagne, Bineta Sarr, Binetou Diagne, Amy Libin Toure for their assistance in facilitating the research. We also thank members of the UK and Senegal Advisory Groups. We thank those with whom we have discussed our ideas at conferences and seminars, including Tony Walter and participants at the CDAS seminar, ‘How malleable are emotions? The case of grief’ (Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, November 2015). We also thank the editors and anonymous reviewers who have helped to improve the article.

Notes

1. We use the terms Majority and Minority Worlds to refer to the global South and global North, respectively, in order to acknowledge that the ‘majority’ of the world's population and land mass are located in the former. While we recognise that these terms are problematic, since all dichotomised terms risk homogenising and obscuring complex and extensive diversities, the terms nevertheless can help to shift the balance of worldviews that frequently privilege 'western' and 'northern' perspectives (Punch, 2003).

2. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Reading Research Ethics Committee in 2014.

3. While some object to the growing ‘Wolofisation’ of Senegal, whereby Wolof is becoming the language spoken by the majority of the population, others welcome the use of an indigenous African language as the main means of communication, rather than French, which continues to be the language of communication in government, law and other professional and educational settings.

4. More extensive discussion of theoretical approaches to emotions and to language are beyond the scope of this paper. See Berman (1999) and Ogarkova et al. (2009).