- June 5, 2022
- 2:00pm NDT
- 74 Circular Road, St. John's
Exactly What I Said
Translating Words and Worlds
Examining what it means to relate whole worlds across the boundaries of language, culture, and history, Exactly What I Said offers an accessible, engaging reflection on respectful and responsible translation and collaboration.
Join Elizabeth Yeoman for the launch of Exactly What I Said: Translating Words and Worlds. This event features a conversation with Innu Elder and activist Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue.
The launch will be hosted in person at 74 Circular Road, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Copies of Exactly What I Said and Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive will be available for purchase and refreshments catered by Hungry Heart will be served.
Exactly What I Said: Translating Words and Worlds reflects on the ten-year collaboration between Elizabeth Yeoman and Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue. It is about naming, mapping, and storytelling; about photographs, collaborative authorship, and voice; about walking together on the land and what can be learned along the way. Combining theory with personal narrative, Yeoman weaves together ideas, memories, and experiences––of home and place, of stories and songs, of looking and listening––to interrogate the challenges and ethics of translation.
Presenters
Elizabeth Yeoman grew up near the border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where the Wabanaki forest meets the wetlands and shores of Siknikt in Mi’kma’ki. Her writing and research is about language, culture, history, walking and memory. Most recently, she co-translated and co-edited Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive with Innu elder and environmental activist, Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue. She recently retired as Professor in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue was a leader of the Innu campaign against NATO low level flying and weapons testing on Innu land in the 1980s and 90s. Her diaries from that period to 2016 were translated into English and published in 2019 as Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive, for which she was shortlisted for NL Reads, the Winterset Award, and a Manitoba Book Award. Tshaukuesh’s work has been recognized by a National Aboriginal Achievement (Indspire) award, honorary doctorates from Memorial University and Queen’s University, a YWCA Woman of Distinction award, and numerous media interviews and profiles, articles and consultations.
