A Play in (South) Africa: Towards a translation history of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
| When: | Tuesday, 17 May 2022 - Tuesday, 17 May 2022 |
| Where: | Online Event Braamfontein Campus East Senate Room, 2nd Floor Solomon Mahlangu House, Braamfontein Campus East Proof of vaccination will be required. |
| Start time: | 17:00 |
| Enquiries: | kelebogile.tadi@wits.ac.za |
| RSVP: | In-Person: Email:kelebogile.tadi@wits.ac.za Online: Register to attend: https://wits-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_E_H-mdKFTy-usTAwKPOtWQ
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A Play in (South) Africa: Towards a translation history of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
South African theatre icon John Kani has declared that Julius Caesar is “Shakespeare’s African play”. While this assertion enables some appealing comparisons and analogies, it also reinforces certain essentialist claims about “Africa”. Is there another approach to the phenomenon of Julius Caesar in Africa that avoids such generalisations?
In this lecture, Professor Thurman will argue that there is, and that it entails mapping out a history of translations of the play into African languages. Doing so reveals a story that is partly pan-African but also demands attention to specific times and places, as well as to the idiosyncracies of particular translators. Professor Thurman will show how such an undertaking fits into the research, archival and creative agenda of the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre in the School of Literature, Language and Media.
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