Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
“devenir nègre”
English translation:
being made to feel black
Added to glossary by
Wendy Streitparth
Dec 4, 2018 17:32
5 yrs ago
French term
“devenir nègre”
French to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Hi friends! I need some help regarding this particularly sensitive term. Please find below the abstract.
1) For context, this is press release/description thus made available to the public. New interpretation of Shakespeare's Othello.
2) UK English
Othello est l’histoire d’un nègre qui ne savait pas qu’il en était un, l’histoire d’un “devenir nègre”.
Il adopte le destin que lui assigne sa couleur de peau.
Il passe du statut de héros à celui de l’impos- teur livré à la vindicte populaire, son “devenir nègre” ( le noir sauvage, assassin, guerrier) lui colle à la peau.
Il ne peut être que porteur d’une histoire projetée depuis l’imaginaire occidental, européen.
1) For context, this is press release/description thus made available to the public. New interpretation of Shakespeare's Othello.
2) UK English
Othello est l’histoire d’un nègre qui ne savait pas qu’il en était un, l’histoire d’un “devenir nègre”.
Il adopte le destin que lui assigne sa couleur de peau.
Il passe du statut de héros à celui de l’impos- teur livré à la vindicte populaire, son “devenir nègre” ( le noir sauvage, assassin, guerrier) lui colle à la peau.
Il ne peut être que porteur d’une histoire projetée depuis l’imaginaire occidental, européen.
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Dec 18, 2018 15:49: Wendy Streitparth Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+5
2 hrs
Wendy Streitparth
Germany
Germany
Native in English
Germany
45 years experience
Native in: English (Variant: British)
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
12
Selected
being made to feel black
The story of being made to feel black.
It is doubtful Michelle Obama has ever spoken more honest words (apart from hello and goodbye) than when she lamented being made to “feel black first and a student second.”
Read more at https://www.wnd.com/2015/06/michelle-obama-the-spring-of-her...
... and the second because of being made to feel black, and therefore it turned out, simultaneously unaccepted or rejected.
https://mixtoweb.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/things-biracial-pe...
It is doubtful Michelle Obama has ever spoken more honest words (apart from hello and goodbye) than when she lamented being made to “feel black first and a student second.”
Read more at https://www.wnd.com/2015/06/michelle-obama-the-spring-of-her...
... and the second because of being made to feel black, and therefore it turned out, simultaneously unaccepted or rejected.
https://mixtoweb.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/things-biracial-pe...
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Rachel Fell
11 mins
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Many thanks, Rachel!
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| agree |
Yolanda Broad
4 hrs
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Thanks, Yolanda!
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
18 hrs
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Many thanks, Yvonne
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| agree |
Verginia Ophof
1 day 16 hrs
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Vielen Dank, Verginia
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| agree |
Catherine Demaison-Doherty
: Othello isn't aware that he is any different since he has been successful and is admired by all, except by his enemy Iago who, moved by envy and malice, uses O's blackness to denigrate him. Thus Othello becomes aware he is black, in a negative way.
4 days
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Many thanks, Catherine. Exactly my sentiments.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+3
36 mins
becoming Black
In other instances, I'd use "a Black person". Note that, in Shakespeare's time and the time the play is set being a "guerrier" was a source of honour.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/182034
by RA Wanzo - 2005
Becoming Black: Creating Identity in the African Diaspora By Michelle M. Wright Durham: Duke UP,
www.theeastafrican.co.ke › Magazine
Saturday December 2 2017. The poetry anthology, Becoming Black, by Mwende Katwiwa.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article...
by GA Asante - 2012 - Cited by 2 - Related articles
Becoming “Black” in America: Exploring Racial Identity Development of African Immigrants. By. Godfried Agyeman Asante.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/182034
by RA Wanzo - 2005
Becoming Black: Creating Identity in the African Diaspora By Michelle M. Wright Durham: Duke UP,
www.theeastafrican.co.ke › Magazine
Saturday December 2 2017. The poetry anthology, Becoming Black, by Mwende Katwiwa.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article...
by GA Asante - 2012 - Cited by 2 - Related articles
Becoming “Black” in America: Exploring Racial Identity Development of African Immigrants. By. Godfried Agyeman Asante.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
LouiseNorman (X)
: I agree.
5 hrs
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Thanks Louise
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| agree |
Raquel Holzmann (X)
8 hrs
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Thanks Raquel
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| agree |
Steve Robbie
: "... a black man who is unaware of his blackness, a story of becoming Black"
1 day 15 hrs
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Thanks Steve. Or, it could be that the meaning of being Black changed. Indeed, it changed within the play and has also changed since Shakespeare's day.
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1 hr
Ana Vozone
Will do!
Native in: Portuguese (Variant: European/Portugal) 
Works in: English to Portuguese, French to Portuguese, German to Portuguese, and 1 more.
black fate/destiny
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
B D Finch
: Is a book by a 1970s evangelist, about pre Civil War American evangelical anti-slavery campaigners, really relevant here?//Both. Fate and destiny are about passivity and acceptance. It's unlikely that they are appropriate here.
2 hrs
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Do you disagree with my suggestion or simply with the reference I included?
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+2
1 hr
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Works in field
United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African, British, Scottish)
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
"seeing/feeling his blackness"
I have often seen the term "blackness" used to describe the feeling of identifying oneself with African/Caribbean roots. I use "seeing" or "feeling" in terms of "learning to see/feel his own identity".
While this may or may not be usable here - so just an idea.
While this may or may not be usable here - so just an idea.
Example sentence:
"Illuminating the BLACKNESS presents the history of Brazil's race relations and African Muslim heritage. The book is divided into two parts. ..."
" This struggle extends into his home where he had to consistently remind others of his Dominican identity – despite them SEEING HIS BLACKNESS as a symbol of otherness. "
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Philippa Smith
: I think blackness would work best here, maybe with "learned", e.g. the story of "learned blackness", or even just by itself.
13 hrs
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Thank you.
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| agree |
katsy
15 hrs
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Thank you.
|
+2
16 hrs
Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
poetically precise prose with... panache
Native in: English
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
80
self savagization / "negroisation"/ "negroization"/ "negroising"...
"... negroising Western culture ..." as opposed to the "negrification of America" (!)
"Musical Meaning: Toward a Critical History
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0520228243
Lawrence Kramer - 2002 - Music
For Zora Neale Hurston, writing about the evolution of the spirituals, this process " negroises" its models without hesitation or apology, especially by enhancing .."
But I see no reason why it could not also apply to Iago's process of reverting to the negro stereotype, which of course is a far more negative (and potentially politically incorrect?) usage, and in this case refers to a certain perceived savagery
"Savagize = To make savage; to cause to adopt a way of life regarded as primitive or uncivilized. Frequently in pass. Also without object: to become savage. [https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/savagize]
In the case of Iago, this would refer to a "self-savagization". This somehow sounds less politically incorrect, especially with the inclusion of the word "self"!
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Note added at 16 hrs (2018-12-05 09:53:22 GMT)
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I see that "savagization" can be used in the passive sense, in which case the prefix "self" would not be required. Although I personally find it helpful, stressing as it does the fact that this was not imposed on him (if that is indeed what the interpretation is in this case!)
"Musical Meaning: Toward a Critical History
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0520228243
Lawrence Kramer - 2002 - Music
For Zora Neale Hurston, writing about the evolution of the spirituals, this process " negroises" its models without hesitation or apology, especially by enhancing .."
But I see no reason why it could not also apply to Iago's process of reverting to the negro stereotype, which of course is a far more negative (and potentially politically incorrect?) usage, and in this case refers to a certain perceived savagery
"Savagize = To make savage; to cause to adopt a way of life regarded as primitive or uncivilized. Frequently in pass. Also without object: to become savage. [https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/savagize]
In the case of Iago, this would refer to a "self-savagization". This somehow sounds less politically incorrect, especially with the inclusion of the word "self"!
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 hrs (2018-12-05 09:53:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I see that "savagization" can be used in the passive sense, in which case the prefix "self" would not be required. Although I personally find it helpful, stressing as it does the fact that this was not imposed on him (if that is indeed what the interpretation is in this case!)
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: yes, think "Black" is rather contemporary and negrois/zation might be better. Depends on overall context and audience of course.
5 hrs
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many thanks, Yvonne!
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| agree |
Yolanda Broad
14 hrs
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many thanks Yolanda!
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Discussion
On the other hand, if the "new interpretation" is about race in the 21st century, then you need it to make the translation fit that interpretation and 17th century racial understandings would no longer be very relevant.