Postcoloniality, Translation, and the Bible in Africa

“‘All translations are re-writings,’ as Musa Dube observes in her introduction to this absorbing anthology, and when biblical translation is the issue and Africa the context, the theological and ideological stakes in such re-writing are immense. Anyone with interests in postcolonial biblical criticism or Christian mission will find this collection to be important and illuminating.”


—Stephen D. Moore, Edmund S. Janes Professor of New Testament Studies, The Theological School, Drew University





“Through the lens of the African context, each of the essays in Postcoloniality, Translation, and the Bible in Africa presents an insightful and critical examination of texts that illustrate the vital role re-writing has on the construction of identity. This volume is a valuable interdisciplinary contribution to the fields of cultural studies, biblical studies, history, and translation theories.”


—Lynne St. Clair Darden, Associate Professor of New Testament, Interdenominational Theological Center





“Dube and Wafula have assembled a critically-needed anthology querying the impact of Western biblical translation for Africans, laying bare the colonial values smuggled into biblical and other texts. The contributors lay bare the colonial patriarchal agenda that assigned male gender to God in African languages in which God was not previously a male construct, and elucidate the fabrication of an anti-black Christianity hostile to indigenous cultural religious and spiritual practices. This collection will be a valuable pedagogical tool for unmasking the supposed neutrality in translation of any literature, and for assessing the continuing consequences of the colonial enterprise for all who read, teach, preach, study, and translate the scriptures.​”


—Wil Gafney, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible, Brite Divinity School





“In this important gender-, race-, and culture-sensitive volume, the eight competent contributors provide the reader with a compelling account from the postcolonial perspective of Africa in the Global South as to how the translation of the Bible in Africa is anything but ideologically innocent. Highly recommended.”


— Gosnell L. Yorke, The Dag Hammarskjӧld Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, The Copperbelt University, Zambia