Perspectives on Translation and Interpretation in Cameroon is the first volume of a book series of the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters (ASTI) of the University of Buea. It opens a window into the wide dynamic and interesting area of translation and interpretation in a multilingual Cameroon that had on the eve of independence and unification opted for official bilingualism in French and English. The book comprises contributions from scholars of translation in the broad area of translation, comprising: the concept of translation and its pedagogy, the history of translation and, the state of the art of translation as a discipline, profession and practice. The book also focuses on acquisition of translation competences through training, and chronicles the history of translation in Cameroon through the contributions of both Cameroonian and European actors from the German through the French and English colonial periods to the postcolonial present in their minutia. Rich, original and comprehensive, the book is a timely and invaluable contribution to the growing community of translators and interpreters in Africa and globally.

Dr. Sharma has kindly made available for posting here his creative and insightful introduction to translation and translation studies. Note in particular his effort to write for students "in communicative English"--we could all learn a lesson from that! Ernst Wendland, Stellenbosch University

The personality of the highly charismatic foremost African Nationalist, Kwame Nkrumah as featured once in a while in Ghanaian fiction. For example, the celebrated Ghanaian novelist, Ayi Kwei Armah draws attention to the corrupt nature of the Nkrumah regime in his famous novel, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. But this is by far the very first time that Kwame Nkrumah and his era have been made the main subject of a full-length novel.

Rock of God centres on a significant war that Nso fought with Bamoun in the 1880s, and which war resulted in a devastating defeat for the Bamouns. During this war, a major Nso combat rule was broken: the Sultan (king) of Bamoun was decapitated. Both local story tellers and historians have indicated that the Sultan was only supposed to be captured alive. The play explores some very compelling reasons for this violation. It mocks any attempt at categorization because the events involved are as historically relevant as they are anthropologically profound; as literarily dense as they are linguistically compelling. It surely stands on its own because it clearly combines concepts of docu-drama, morality play, classical theatre, historical drama, and much more. But beyond all else, it is great artistry that demonstrates the genius of experimentation.

Dr. Frederick Ngenito shocks his entire ethnic community by finally marrying a girl whose rejection of him had cost him an enviable job. But this is nothing compared to the ire of the ancestors when he hides the facts surrounding his irate father's suicide and he is buried without the traditional cleansing, and which reduces him to a wreck. Harrowing but thoroughly enjoyable, this spellbinder of a novel is a brash standoff between filia and eros, science and fetish fears. Bloodcurdling premonitions and raspy raw effects make of this novel of many parts a story of dogged intolerance and catastrophe of half measures and falsification as quick solutions. Here is an unputdownable teeming with vivid true blood characters you cannot forget: Fred, brilliant, handsome, navely supercilious, the dream of every beautiful young girl; Beatrice, his wife, beautiful, proud, sensitive but unforgiving; Chief Mutare, Fred's father, the very incarnation of brute force, raw, untouched either by surface culture or inner human feelings. Upon the fatalistic relationship between these three characters, Asong builds this grim tale of great passions, of a love that is doomed. In this book stamped with an incomparable aura of authenticity, we see why Asong's novels are sometimes mistaken for case histories.

Crafted in a colourful, razor-sharp blend of poetry and prose, The Hill Barbers depicts the wanton destruction of water catchments in most communities in Africa. This is inextricably linked To The traditional practice of shifting cultivation, motivated largely by farmers' struggle to acquire more arable farmland to meet the needs of their rapidly growing families. The immediate consequence is acute water shortages, with obvious health and economic implications. Agro-forestry and other soil management techniques are subtly proposed as practical measures to effectively address the issue of shifting cultivation And The associated problem of encroachment into the delicate water catchments.

Shrouded Blessings is a tale of four people on a collision course. Naomi, a Xhosa schoolgirl and enchantress given to prostitution that counts the S.A Police Commissioner among her clientele, approaches Fr Bryn Flynn, An Irish priest at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King, In Johannesburg, For confession. But Fr Flynn is reeling from the consequences of a parishioner's botched abortion. To The Cathedral also comes Bonginkosi, inheritor of a business empire, To surrender a bloodthirsty and sexually abusive tokoloshe (goblin). As Naomi enjoys her daring escapades, Bonginkosi is catapulted into a maelstrom of spiritual journeys in frantic attempts to get rid of the menace. Beginning in Johannesburg, The story unfolds with great drama and mysticism before a cabbalist in Jerusalem, a diviner in Nigeria, a Lama in the Samye Temple on the Himalayas in Tibet, a Disciplinary Committee of the Vatican, and finally before a Xhosa sangoma (diviner) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. But will the Xhosa sangoma, a diviner in conflict with the Government and his community, a man threatening gods and desperate For The head of an albino, rid Bonginkosi of the goblin and himself of his newly found wife -Naomi? Down and trodden, Is Naomi not being turned day-by-day into a creature that animates her worst fears - a tokoloshe?

This collection of poems evolves as a network and satellite of an expressive pursuit of justice with a difference. For, though this poetry simultaneously shapes global and grassroots smiles and tears, its corpus is no matter for laughter or weeping. In familiar but not identical voices, the poet tackles social evils as parasites while cross-examining cultural assumptions in the same vein. Triple form -title poem, Letters to Ethiopia and Some Random poems, explores nightmares of colonial mission civilisatrice by dint of two decades of inspirational events from 1965 as invitations into a more serene world emerging from post-discoveries.

Efenze, the President of the Board of Directors of government companies and a member of the Central Committee of the Ruling Party, eliminates his erstwhile business contractor, Sancheu, with the complicity of the latter's wife. His aim is to inherit Sancheu's widow and wealth and to forge his way into the Political Bureau of the Party. The Call of Blood is a dramatization of evil in its multifaceted dimensions including treachery, infidelity, greed, hypocrisy, double-crossing and vaulting ambition in a postcolonial society where those who wield political and financial power thrive or perish by their involvement in obscure schemes. The play is enriched by a great sense of dramatic economy and poetic style evident in the preponderant use of local imagery.

The extremely irritable and quick-tempered chieftain, Akendong II has 14 children, all girls, and is saddened by the fact that he has no chopchair, a male heir to his throne. Then news comes to him that his favourite wife has given birth to a pair of twins, boys. He is even more angered by the fact that he has two heirs, a source of trouble for his kingdom. To avoid his wrath, his councillors change the story, sending away one of the boys to grow in hiding. Learning of the truth about his birth 15 years afterwards, the prince in hiding returns, kidnaps the palace prince and demands his full share of the kingdom. His will is done, but at a very great cost to the chief's peace of mind and relationship with his people. This is by far the shortest of Asong's novels and the least complicated by comparison. But the conflicts, the hallmarks of his art are still there, so also is his breathtaking suspense.