The Problem of Translation and Interpretation in Classical-African Studies: Towards an Original Theoretical Resolution

Translation between classical Greek and Latin texts and African cultural traditions involves not merely linguistic conversion but the navigation of fundamentally different ontological frameworks, epistemic systems, and narrative conventions that challenge the theoretical foundations of interpretive equivalence. This study addresses the theoretical problem of translation and interpretation in Classical-African studies and develops an original theoretical resolution. A philosophical-theoretical methodology drawing on translation studies theory (Venuti, Steiner, Benjamin), hermeneutical philosophy (Gadamer, Ricoeur), African philosophy of knowledge, and postcolonial translation theory (Tymoczko, Trivedi) was adopted. The study also draws on applied research with 25 translators and interpreters working at the classical-African interface, including scholars translating classical texts into Nigerian languages and Nigerian cultural scholars translating African oral traditions into academic prose. An original theory, the Dialogic Translation Framework (DTF), is proposed to address the theoretical challenges identified. The DTF operates on four principles: ontological hospitality (approaching both classical and African frameworks as equally valid ways of understanding the world), translation as creation (recognising translation as an act of creative interpretation rather than neutral transfer), dialogic remainder (explicitly theorising what is untranslatable across cultural horizons as productive rather than merely problematic), and interpretive accountability (the ethical obligation of the translator to acknowledge and theorise their own cultural positioning). The DTF constitutes an original contribution to translation studies, hermeneutical philosophy, and Classical-African studies methodology.

Keywords: translation theory, Classical-African studies, hermeneutics, dialogic framework, original contribution