Translation as Performance and Engagement: Performing Philemon from a Modern Caribbean Perspective

Abstract

This introductory article addresses the use of performance criticism in the translation of Philemon as a means of critically engaging a modern Caribbean audience. The aim is to elicit a hermeneutical appropriation, which faces, in one way or the other, the polemic of condoned New Testament slavery, the reality of the Atlantic slave trade, and the liberating message of the gospel, which in the concrete case of Philemon is expressed rather subtly. The point of departure is that oral performance played a key role in the composition and dissemination of the original Scripture texts. This, combined with the salient fact that orality plays a key role in Creole language cultures, provides a fecund terrain for the translator. As an illustration, an integral translation for performance in Papiamentu, a Caribbean Creole, is juxtaposed with a provocative fictional response by the historical character of Tula, the Curaçaoan revolt leader of 1795.