ABSTRACT
This chapter will look at the debates on translation in one area of cultural anthropology, the study of Native American oral literature by linguistically oriented anthropologists in Canada, the United States and Latin America. This is a field of work where an unusual amount has been written on the technical and political aspects of translation practice as an ethnographic practice; key collections are Swann and Krupat (1987), Swann (1992) and Sammons and Sherzer (2000). This is not to suggest that no similar work has been done in other parts of the world, but Americanist anthropology has taken a particularly consistent interest in the recording and translation of oral literature.
