The evaluation of historical sources is an inherently translative enterprise, and indeed, it frequently requires the mastery of several languages. Further, the translator and the historian share a set of core skills and attitudes: the ability to decenter one’s own perspective and empathetically immerse oneself in a foreign language and culture; the commitment to balancing felicity and clarity of interpretation with scrupulous faithfulness to the source text; and dedication to continually honing and refining one’s craft. However, these skills are as applicable to translating historical knowledge between historical traditions as they are to interpreting historical sources within a given historical tradition. This paper considers the lessons learned from attempting to apply a Baha’i conceptual framework to the task of entering into a translative dialogue between source texts derived from indigenous African historical traditions and traditional Atlantic historiography.
O. Malik Nash is a doctoral student in the History Department at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a graduate of Morgan State University. His research focuses on the history of West African Sufism, 1650-1850.
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