ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book opens with a chapter on sacred translation, with a comparative focus on the Bible on the one hand and the Quran on the other. In fact, books on translation in Africa in general have been quite rare. In a sense, then, the book problematizes the notions of both postcolonial and translation in new ways. It is essentially a textbook that provides some historical background to and theoretical understanding of translation studies, as well as an introduction to the practice of translation. It is my hope that this book will contribute not only to filling the East African gap in translation studies, but also in stimulating greater interest in the field in the postcolonial context. Observing the different derivations of the term would be in accord with morphological rules of the Swahili language, but not of English the medium used in the book.
