Translated Bodies: Language and Ideology in Nigerian Literature by Women A critical translation analysis

What happens when the narrative construction of female bodies and embodied experience cross linguistic and cultural boundaries? Through the Italian translations of novels by the Nigerian authors Chinelo Okparanta, Lola Shoneyin, Ayọ̀ bámi Adébáyọ̀ and Sefi Atta, the volume examines how sexuality, motherhood, sexual violence, reproductive pressure, agency and the gendered gaze are linguistically framed and reframed. Bringing together translation studies, feminist stylistics and decolonial feminism, the volume reveals how seemingly local lexical, syntactic and pragmatic choices can preserve, intensify or attenuate the ideological meanings attached to women’s bodies. Translation thus emerges as a site where language, gender and power are not simply transferred, but actively renegotiated.