Team > Serena Talento
Serena Talento
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Serena Talento is assistant professor at the chair of Literatures in African Languages at the University of Bayreuth, where she teaches Swahili and thematic courses on translation studies, particularly in relation to African contexts. She is also research associate at Department of Linguistics and Language Practice at the University of the Free State, and affiliated to the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research interests include literary exchanges from and into Swahili, sociology of translation, translation history, translation and nationalism, Shakespearean translations into Swahili, translation and manuscript cultures. Her book Framing Texts/Framing Social Spaces: Conceptualising Literary Translation in Three Centuries of Swahili Literature examines the discourse on literary translation into Swahili in three different historical settings to explore how such discourse on translation correlates to the literary, historical and social field of reception.
Academic Degrees
| 2018 | Doctorate: African Studies, Bayreuth International School of African Studies (BIGSAS), University of Bayreuth; Disputation: July 2018 (Dr. phil. Summa cum laude); Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Said Khamis. Mentors: Prof. Dr. Clarissa Vierke, Prof. Dr. Paul F. Bandia. |
2011 | Master of Arts: Languages and Cultures of Africa, University of Naples “L’Orientale”. |
| 2008 | Bachelor of Arts: Languages and Cultures of Africa, University of Naples “L’Orientale”. |
Professional Background
| Since 2015 | Assistant professor at the chair of Literatures in African Languages |
Since 2019 | Research Associate of the University of the Free State |
Since May 2021 | Affiliate to the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre, the University of the Witwatersrand |
Other
Co-editor of the Online Journal Swahili Forum, hosted by the University of Leipzig
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
I am specialised in Swahili language and literature, with a focus on the history of literary exchanges from and into Swahili.
My research is embedded in a historical and sociological framework: I have widely worked on literary translation from the 18th to the present, and sharpened an eye on the social relevance of texts.
Research topics:
- Literary exchanges from and into Swahili
- Sociology of translation
- Comparative Literature with a focus on Africa
- Cognitive Linguistics
- Corpus Linguistics
Further information:
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Publications
Book/Monograph
African Shakespeare : Subversions, Appropriations, Negotiations
publ: Aboluwade, Ifeoluwa; Talento, Serena; Mforbe Chiangong, Pepetual; Nyambi, Oliver
London ; New York : Routledge, 2025 . - (Routledge Studies in African Literature)
https://www.routledge.com/African-Shakespeare-Subv ...
Talento, Serena
Framing Texts/Framing Social Spaces : Conceptualising Literary Translation in three Centur ...
Köln : Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 2021. - 408 pp. . - (Verbal Art and Documentary Literature in African Languages; 42) (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen ; 42)
https://www.koeppe.de/titel_framing-texts-framing- ...
Editorial work for a series or a journal
Swahili Forum
publ: Talento, Serena
Leipzig
http://afrikanistik.gko.uni-leipzig.de/swafo/
Complete issue of a journal
Handling and mishandling African language texts
publ: Talento, Serena; Adejunmobi, Moradewun
Journal of the African Literature Association vol. 19 (2025) issue 1
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rala20/19/1
Critical Swahili Studies
publ: Brunotti, Irene; Talento, Serena; Tarrant, Duncan; Vierke, Clarissa
Swahili Forum vol. 30 (2023) issue Special Issue
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa ...
Swahili Literature in Global Exchange : Translations, Translators and Trends
publ: Reuster-Jahn, Uta; Talento, Serena
Swahili Forum vol. 25 (2018) . - 195 pp.
http://afrikanistik.gko.uni-leipzig.de/swafo/index ...
Article in a journal (peer-reviewed)
Talento, Serena; Adejunmobi, Moradewun
Introduction: Handling and mishandling African language texts
in Journal of the African Literature Association vol. 19 (2025) issue 1. - pp. 1-10
doi:10.1080/21674736.2025.2470520 ...
Talento, Serena
Tradurre versificando e versificare traducendo : La traduzione come versificazione nella p ...
in Smerilliana vol. 27 (2025) issue 2. - pp. 195-209
Brunotti, Irene; Talento, Serena; Tarrant, Duncan; Vierke, Clarissa
Introduction
in Swahili Forum vol. 30 (2023) . - pp. 1-23
https://www.gkr.uni-leipzig.de/en/swahili-forum/th ...
Talento, Serena
On Pluralism and Relevance in World Literary Transfers: Some Reflections on the Mapping of ...
in Comparative Literature Studies vol. 59 (2022) issue 4. - pp. 727-748
doi:10.5325/complitstudies.59.4.0727 ...
Reuster-Jahn, Uta; Talento, Serena
Introduction
in Swahili Forum vol. 25 (2018) . - pp. 1-15
http://ul.qucosa.de/api/qucosa%3A35194/attachment/ ...
Talento, Serena
Vennero da Shiraz in Persia : Discendenza shirazi in Africa orientale tra mito e storia
in Afriche e Orienti (2014) issue 3. - pp. 171-188
Talento, Serena
Of Presences/Absences, Identity and Power : The Ideological Role of Translation into Swahi ...
in Swahili Forum vol. 20 (2013) . - pp. 85-101
http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documen ...
Article in a book (peer-reviewed)
Talento, Serena; Aboluwade, Ifeoluwa
Introduction
In: Aboluwade, Ifeoluwa ; Talento, Serena ; Mforbe Chiangong, Pepetual ; Nyambi, Oliver (ed.): African Shakespeare : Subversions, Appropriations, Negotiations - London ; New York: Routledge, 2025. - pp. 1-10 . - (Routledge Studies in African Literature)
Talento, Serena
The Merchant, the Capitalists and the Usurer : The Merchant of Venice in East Africa betwe ...
In: Aboluwade, Ifeoluwa ; Talento, Serena ; Mforbe Chiangong, Pepetual ; Nyambi, Oliver (ed.): African Shakespeare : Subversions, Appropriations, Negotiations - London ; New York: Routledge, 2025. - pp. 97-116 . - (Routledge Studies in African Literature)
https://www.routledge.com/African-Shakespeare-Subv ...
Talento, Serena
Literary Translation and Nation-Building in Post-Independence Tanzania
In: Rundle, Christopher (ed.): The Routledge Handbook of Translation History - London: Routledge, 2022. - pp. 337-352 . - (Routledge Handbooks in Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Talento, Serena
Broadening latitudes : Mapping a sociological history of literary translation into Swahili
In: Inggs, Judith ; Wehrmeyer, Ella (ed.): African Perspectives on Literary Translation - London ; New York: Routledge, 2021. - pp. 53-72 . - (Routledge Advances in Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Talento, Serena
The "Arabic story" and the Kingwana Hugo : a (too short) history of literary translation i ...
In: Aiello, Flavia ; Gaudioso, Roberto (ed.): Lugha na Fasihi : Scritti in onore e memoria di/Essays in honour and memory of Elena Bertoncini Zúbková - Napoli: UniorPress, 2019. - pp. 59-80
Talento, Serena
Merging Heterodoxy and Orthodoxy in Swahili Verse Translations
In: Blakesley, Jacob S. D. (ed.): Sociologies of poetry translation : emerging perspectives - London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. - pp. 129-150 . - (Bloomsbury Advances in Translation Series)
Talento, Serena
The Discourse (and Silence) on Literary Translation into Swahili during British Rule : Tra ...
In: Marais, Jacobus ; Feinauer, Ilse (ed.): Translation studies beyond the postcolony - Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017. - pp. 33-72
Talento, Serena
Consecration, Deconsecration, and Reconsecration : The Shifting Role of Literary Translati ...
In: Khalifa, Abdel-Wahab (ed.): Translators have their say? : Translation and the power of agency - Zürich: LIT, 2014. - pp. 42-64
Talento, Serena
What Hands/Arms Can Say : A Corpus-Based Analysis of the Swahili Body-Part Terms Mkono and ...
In: Brenzinger, Matthias ; Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona (ed.): The body in language : comparative studies of linguistic embodiment - Leiden: Brill, 2014. - pp. 260-283 . - (Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture; 8)
doi:10.1163/9789004274297_014 ...
Review
Talento, Serena
Aiello, Flavia ; Gaudioso, Roberto (Hrsg.): Ushairi na uhuru : Poesie scelte di Abdilatif ...
Swahili Forum
2017
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa ...
Talento, Serena
Polenta e Uova
Africa e Mediterraneo
2013
reviewed: Mulokozi, Mugyabuso M.: "Polenta e Uova" traduzione di Elena Bertoncini Zúbková della poesia "Sima na Mayai"
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Serena Talento
Research Assistant, Literatures in African Languages
University of Bayreuth
Literatures in African languages
95440 Bayreuth
Room: 17 (B III)
Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-5368
E-mail: serena.talento@uni-bayreuth.de