When words go beyond words: Notes on a hermeneutical and sensualistic approach to text and translation in the poems of Kezilahabi and Leopardi

In this paper, I propose translation as a main tool for a sensualistic and hermeneutical approach to texts. In agreement with the writer and thinker Euphrase Kezilahabi, who claims that the text has to be considered as a living event, I propose to look at a text not as an object but as a living body. I ague that this approach reduces the distance between the body of the text and that of the reader. Perception can thus be used as a means to know and critique a literary text. I present a multifocal sensualistic analysis based on an analogical idea of knowledge, taking translation as a tool to push the critic to focus on the text word for word (not excluding the paratext or the context). The translations discussed here are poems by Kezilahabi and a proposal for a Swahili translation of the poem L’infinito by the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi

Transferring and Rewriting Freedom in Euphrase Kezilahabi

Euphrase Kezilahabi\ud , a Tanzanian poet, novelist and s\ud cholar\ud , is an ontological and African \ud interpreter of Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Hei\ud degger. \ud He\ud transfers and rewrites Western \ud philosophy in an African way, transforming philosophical concepts into metaphors or oniric\ud images. These elements emerge in his PhD thesis where he explicitly speaks about the \ud importance of the concepts of \ud Being\ud in Heidegger and the concept of \ud Time\ud in Nietzsche. African \ud Being\ud for Kezilahabi is being a prisoner because of pride of ethnicity, pri\ud de of Africanness and \ud ethnic morality. That imprisons African \ud Being\ud and makes African leader\ud s profit from the \ud manipulation of these elements. According to Kezilahabi, these elements tend to make\ud African\ud s \ud think in a Fascist way\ud . One of the key features of K\ud ezilahabi’s philosophy is liberation. And so \ud it is a philosophy of freedom, with\ud very different meanings, which is the subject\ud of this article. \ud Kezilahabi’s philosophy is\ud concerned with \ud liberation. \ud He\ud meditates on the concept of time\ud , \ud taking as his cue the \ud ancient question of “Western” philosophy \ud as to whether time is circular or \ud linear. He uses African elements to resolve this question, and the result is not only African but \ud universal. His philosophy is not a summa\ud ry of the influences from\ud Western philosophy, but an \ud original deep philosophy \ud by one of the greatest\ud African writers. This article will show his\ud rewriting of these concepts and their political, social and philosophical valence

To the eternal presence of poetry, to Euphrase Kezilahabi

Euphrase Kezilahabi, outstanding Swahili writer, thinker and scholar who was born on 13 April, 1944, passed away on 9 January, 2020. In this obituary, Roberto Gaudioso pays homage to his path-breaking achievements in Swahili creative literature by highlighting his poetry which Gaudioso has studied in depth. He emphasizes that the late Kezilahabi’s contribution as an intellectual and a poet goes beyond limits of space and time, as is shown by generations of researchers and translators who have been working on him

Callose-mediated regulation of Plasmodesmata during the establishment of Medicago Truncatula-Sinorhizobium Meliloti Symbiotic interaction

Legumes, such as Medicago truncatula, can fix atmospheric nitrogen by forming symbiotic associations with soil-borne bacteria collectively called rhizobia. As a result of this relationship, specific roots organs called nodules, are developed that houses rhizobia and where the nitrogen fixation process occurs. Nodule formation is tightly regulated by complex signalling mechanisms and environmental cues, such as nitrate availability. Molecular signals move between the site of infection and the cortex/pericycle to coordinate nodule organogenesis and also systemically along the vascular system to coordinate root and shoot responses. Despite recent progress in the identification of some of these signals very little is known about the pathways for intercellular transport. In this project, the role of the cell-wall polysaccharide callose in the establishment of symbiotic interaction between Medicago truncatula and Sinorhizobium meliloti was addressed. Callose metabolism regulates transport through plasmodesmata: intercellular channels that form a symplastic path for transport. Using immuno-histochemistry we found that callose is downregulated as early as 16 hours post-bacterial inoculation. Concomitantly, the expression of a plasmodesmata located callose degrading enzyme (Medtr3g083580), identified using phylogeny, was induced. Roots constitutively expressing either Medtr3g083580 or its Arabidopsis orthologue PdBG1, showed reduced callose levels and a higher rate of infection and nodulation, even when grown in nitrate concentrations that inhibit nodulation. The effects were stronger when using a promoter active early after rhizobial infection and were mimicked, in high nitrate conditions, by the ectopic expression of a novel plasmodesmata receptor-like kinase (Medtr1g073320). The results suggest an important role for callose in the control of nodulation, both under nitrate deprived or sufficient conditions, likely associated with the regulation of transport via plasmodesmata. The relevance of the findings is discussed in light of potential applications in crop improvement and in reducing the use of nitrogen fertilizers

Katriina Ranne, The Image of Water in the Poetry of Euphrase Kezilahabi.

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