Practical Challenges in Customary Law Tr

The Case of Rwanda�s Gacaca Law

Telesphore Ngarambe

The Rwandan justice system know as Gacaca, originally preserved by word of mouth was revived, documented, tested and used successfully to handle millions of legal cases in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi. This monograph begins by depicting the general picture of customary law and ponders on the practical challenges in the production of the modern Gacaca law in three versions: Kinyarwanda, French and English. The author demonstrates that translation involves language use and transfer, as well as communication within a cultural setting. The book amply demonstrates that linguistic, textual, contextual and cultural cues in translation should not be downplayed. It also shows that the cultural turn in translation has transformed and re-conceptualised the translation theory to integrate non-western thought about translation discipline since time immemorial. A major theme within the book is that teranslation as a mediating form between cultures and contexts should not overlook cultural differences because language is a marker of identity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Foreword
• Preface
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER ONE - Distinctive Aspects Common to Customary Laws
• CHAPTER TWO - Pointers to the Gacaca Source Legal System
• CHAPTER THREE - Pointers to the Gacaca Target Legal Systems
• CHAPTER FOUR - Relevance of Culture and Context to Translation
• CHAPTER FIVE - Major Challenges of Translation in Gacaca Law
• CONCLUSION
• References
• Back cover