_La mariposa de Jackeline, Jackeline’s Butterfly_ at the Humanities Research Center

 La mariposa de Jackeline, Jackeline’s Butterfly at the Humanities Research Center

Xánath Caraza

 

El pasado 20 de abril de este año se presentó en el Humanities Research Center de Lycoming College La mariposa de Jackeline, Jackeline’s Butterfly con especial atención y celebración a los traductores de este poemario. El Director del Humanities Research Center es el Doctor Andrew Leiter quien amablemente nos abrió las puertas.  Los traductores de La mariposa de Jackeline, Jackeline’s Butterfly son la Doctora Sandra Kingery, Aaron Willsea y Hanna Cherres. Tuve el honor de ser invitada en Zoom. A continuación les comparto parte del discurso presentado por la Doctora Kingery y Aaron Willsea junto con imágenes de este evento que me conmovió sobremanera.  Las fotografías son del Humanities Research Center y de Maybel Mesa Morales. Este poemario fue parcialmente escrito con el apoyo del George B. Gaul Endowed Student-Faculty Research Program de Lycoming College.  

 

“It is such an honor to be here and to have the opportunity to introduce my 3 partners for this presentation and this book. First off, the amazingly prolific Xánath Caraza, who is joining us by Zoom, and who has written nearly 20 books now (I’ve lost count of the exact number). Almost all of Xánath’s books have been published in bilingual editions with my translation, and five of these translations were completed with students, including Hanna and Aaron.

Xánath’s books have garnered innumerable awards. To name just a few, all related to books I translated with students, here are three awards, all from the International Latino Book Awards:

In 2018, Lágrima roja, which Aaron and I later translated as Red Teardrop, was nominated in the category of Poetry, One Author, Spanish. 

In 2019, Metztli, which I translated with Kaitlyn Hipple ’18, was given Second Place for Best Collection of Short Stories—English.

And in 2021, It Pierces the Skin, which I translated with 18 students, including Hanna and Aaron, was given Third Place for the Best Bilingual Book of Poetry.

I am very grateful to Xánath for trusting my students and me to capture in English the strength and passion of her astonishing collections of prose and poetry.

I also want to briefly introduce my two co-translators. Hanna Cherres is a senior Spanish major, who is in the final stages of completing a Haberberger Fellowship in Spanish about Ecuadorian literature of the 20th century. She joined this translation project with me as a George B. Gaul Research Scholar last summer.

Aaron Willsea graduated from Lycoming College in 2020 with a Business major and a Spanish minor. He is passionate about translating, and this book is the second translation project he has completed with me since his graduation.

It was such a pleasure to work on this project with Hanna and Aaron because they were true collaborators throughout the project.  Sometimes when I work with student translators, I need to be very circumspect about offering suggestions, because the students will tend to accept my translation as the “correct” translation (as if there is ever just one correct translation). Hanna and Aaron, on the other hand, had no problem with rejecting suggesting that I would throw out there if they had come up with something better. (Which is exactly the way it should be.)  

Hanna, Aaron and I all translated all of the poems individually, and then we compared our translations, selecting words and phrases, sometimes from my translation, sometimes from one of their translations, and sometimes something new that none of us had come up with in the beginning. This was a true collaboration, and Hanna and Aaron’s work made the translation immeasurably better.

Lastly, I want to introduce the subject of the book: Jackeline’s Butterfly honors and commemorates the memory of Jackeline Caal, a 7-year old girl from Guatemala who made the 2000-mile trek from Guatemala to the border of New Mexico with her father in search of asylum.

Jackeline and her father turned themselves in to US Customs and Border Patrol in December 2018, and her father requested what is called a “credible fear interview” to explain why they were not safe in Guatemala and needed asylum in the US.

Eight hours later, Jackeline began vomiting and spiked a very high fever. Her father says that they were not given food or water during those eight hours that they were in custody.

Jackeline’s father reported her illness, but it took more than 90 minutes for Jackeline to be seen by medical authorities. They then transported her to the hospital, but unfortunately, she died the next day.

It took the US government 8 days to acknowledge that a child had died while in Customs and Border Patrol custody.

The head of the American Academy of Pediatrics, called Jackeline’s death “preventable.” The autopsy confirms that Jackeline died of a bacterial infection known as streptococcal sepsis. Early medical attention might have prevented her death.

The ACLU released a statement that said: “This tragedy represents the worst possible outcome when people, including children, are held in inhumane conditions. Lack of accountability, and a culture of cruelty within Customs and Border Patrol have exacerbated policies that lead to migrant deaths.”

So on that tragic note, I’m going to turn the program over to Hanna who is going to talk a little bit about the project and then read some poems with Xánath. Then Aaron will do the same. Xánath will conclude our presentation with a few words at the end.”

—Sandra Kingery

 

“The translation process for me has been such an incredible journey. I really have enjoyed being able to work with Sandy on these projects and over time have been able to develop my own style of translating, which is a very rewarding experience. Translating powerful works of poetry such as La Mariposa de Jackeline are as challenging as they are enjoyable, because maintaining the message of each poem is as important as each individual word. Being able to work with Hanna and Dr. Kingery was a real pleasure as well because no one was afraid to voice their opinion or challenge a translation, which ultimately leads to the best possible translation I believe.”

—Aaron Willsea