Pseudo-Canonization of Shaaban Robert in China: Translation, Academia and Rewriting of Writer’s Image

Abstract

Shaaban Robert is one of the most renowned Swahili writers in East Africa. With the growing global dissemination of the Swahili language, his literary fame has extended beyond Tanzania to reach China. Although his works have existed in China for over 46 years, their reception has occurred within a complex and often contradictory context. This study adopts a historical perspective, drawing on literary canonization theories by Even-Zohar and Pierre Bourdieu, to conceptualize Robert’s reception in China as a case of pseudo-canonization — a symbolic elevation shaped less by aesthetic appreciation than by the entangled forces of institutional mediation, ideological alignment, and translation politics. The paper examines how Robert’s image has been strategically reconstructed at the intersection of Western epistemological frameworks and Chinese political discourse through translational paratexts, academic commentary, and educational materials. It is argued that Robert’s canonization in China departs from conventional models of dynamic or static canon formation. Instead, it constitutes an ideologically driven process that prioritizes symbolic value over genuine literary engagement, thereby constraining critical reevaluation of his works and hindering their integration into the Chinese literary system.