ABSTRACT
This study adopts Bourdieu’s sociological approach to study the context in which Ferdinand Oyono’s Une vie de boy was translated into English. Research has underscored the importance of considering the social context of translations in order to understand the actions of the agents involved in the process. This study seeks to investigate how social factors influenced the actions of the agents involved in the translation of Une vie de boy, arguing that the actions of the agents involved in the translation were influenced by their habitus and the positions of the agents in the literary field, thereby contributing to the application of Bourdieu’s theory to the study of the translation of African literature. The chapter examines the structure of the African literary field and the mutually influential relationship between the field and the actions of the agents involved in the translation. Focusing on the publisher and the translator as the principal agents, the study uses primary data collected through interviews with the publisher and the translator, plus secondary data from documentary sources to analyse the macro-level actions of these agents in the translation process.
